Methodological concerns about a recent meta-analysis of the influence of the I148M variant of patatin-like phospholipase domain containing 3 on the susceptibility and histological severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

摘要

We read the meta-analysis by Sookoian and Pirola1 with great interest. Their meta-analysis suggests that patatin-like phospholi-pase domain containing 3 rs738409 C/G is a strong modifier of the natural history of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. However, several points should be mentioned here. The perfect searching strategy and the use of more related databases allow researchers to include an extensive number of potentially eligible studies, and this is crucial for a meta-analysis. Although the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE) database is one of the most comprehensive databases for health care information, its coverage is not complete. Lemeshow et al. and Seminara et al. suggested that at least MEDLINE, another electronic database, and hand searching should be used for a thorough search. In this meta-analysis, only the MEDLINE database was searched for eligible studies. In addition, Sookoian and Pirola1 limited the search to publications written in English. Using this approach, they may have neglected some eligible studies, and this may have resulted in selection or publication bias. Moreover, local databases also should have been searched.