Reporting participant numbers for meta analysis

[tcr]

Hi there,

I am hoping you may be able to help me with a query I have. I am conducting a meta analysis on Random Control Trials using REVMAN. I have secondary data I am trying to input.I wanted to know whether participants are added up in each condition if there are multiple trials or whether you just state how many participants participated in the condition I know this may seem simplistic but I have gotten so confused by this.
Below is an example of what I mean

consider that there is a condition with 3 trials

condition 1: pre post follow up
#of particapants 100 90 80

would you state the total number of particapants (i.e 270) when reporting the Mean and SD for the condition or would you average it out to 90 or would you state how many completed all 3 trials ie 80

Thanks
TC

 

[hlsmith]

Your presentation of the question is confusing. How many are your using in the actual analysis and what type of analyses are you using? Was this a study with 3 cross-sectional time points?

 

[tcr]

Hi thanks for replying,
Its the same population (same 100 people) who are assessed at 3 points (pre, post, fu). I am trying to use REVMAN to gain an average of their means and sd so that I can calculate effect size. I am using secondary data. I was wondering would I just input 100 participants or would I input 300 as their data is used three times. If it is the former what happens when there are drop out rates ? do i just use the initial population count or do I use the follow up population count or do i average it out?). I hope this is clearer.

Thanks
TC