Meta-analyses examining dichotomous outcomes often include single-zero studies, where no events occur in intervention or control groups. These pose challenges, and several methods have been proposed to address them. A fixed continuity correction method has been shown to bias estimates, but it is frequently used because sometimes software (e.g.,…

This paper considers the problem in aggregate data meta-analysis of studies reporting multiple competing binary outcomes and of studies using different summary formats for those outcomes. For example, some may report numbers of patients with at least one of each outcome while others may report the total number of such outcomes. We develop a shared…

The complexity associated with how interventions result--or fail to result--in outcomes and how context matters is increasingly recognised. Logic models provide an important tool for handling complexity, with contrasting uses in programme evaluation and evidence synthesis. To reconcile these, we developed an approach that combines the strengths of…