Publication Name	World Journal of Meta-Analysis
Manuscript ID	56938
Country	Bahrain

Category	Biochemical Research Methods
Manuscript Type	Letter to the Editor
Article Title	Integrating contextual variables in meta-analyses
Manuscript Source	Unsolicited Manuscript
All Author List	Haitham Jahrami
Funding Agency and Grant Number
Corresponding Author	Haitham Jahrami, PhD, Assistant Professor, Ministry of Health, College of Medicine and Medial Sciences, Arabian Gulf University, Road 2904 Building 293 Manama, Manama P.O Box 26671, Bahrain. hjahrami@health.gov.bh
Key Words	Covariates; Moderator; Meta analysis; Contextual; Subgroup analysis; Meta regression
Core Tip	This letter call for the use of contextual variables, that are typically not in use for covariate analyses. Contextual variables are introduced and defined as variables not immediately/directly measured by the original studies in the meta-analysis but rather can be estimated knowing the background of each study. For example in a meta analysis of clinical trails one might want to adjust for studies from high income vs low income countries or studies that were funded vs independent.
Citation	Jahrami H. Integrating contextual variables in meta-analyses. World J Meta-Anal 2020; 8(4): 345-347

Received	2020-05-20 02:53
Peer-Review Started	2020-05-20 02:54
To Make the First Decision
Return for Revision	2020-07-04 01:34
Revised	2020-07-04 05:43
Second Decision	2020-08-14 09:43
Accepted by Journal Editor-in-Chief
Accepted by Company Editor-in-Chief	2020-08-14 16:52
Articles in Press	2020-08-14 16:52
Publication Fee Transferred
Edit the Manuscript by Language Editor
Typeset the Manuscript	2020-08-19 09:54

ISSN	2308-3840 (online)
Open Access	This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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