DerSimonian and Laird: meta-analysis in clinical trials

What changed

Presented a simple noniterative random-effects meta-analysis procedure.

Scientific scope

The record is the exact two-author 1986 Controlled Clinical Trials paper. It is a statistical method, not clinical evidence for any treatment, and does not guarantee validity under arbitrary heterogeneity, bias or small-study conditions.

Evidence

The linked sources identify this contribution and its scope. WRS has not independently reconstructed the scientific claims. The record is the exact two-author 1986 Controlled Clinical Trials paper. It is a statistical method, not clinical evidence for any treatment, and does not guarantee validity under arbitrary heterogeneity, bias or small-study conditions.

Contributors

• Rebecca DerSimonian · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• Nan Laird · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.

• PubMed record for Meta-analysis in Clinical Trials
• Authors' retrospective on DerSimonian-Laird method

Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-16.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.

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