The Anatomy of the Forest Plot graphic
Main Article Content
Keywords
Meta-Analysis, Statistics, Risk, Forest Plot
Abstract
Graphs used in scientific articles help improve the understanding of results. One of the most widely used graphs in recent scientific literature is the forest plot. Its growing popularity is related to its versatility. Although it was initially employed to present results of meta-analyses, it is now used to display findings from individual studies, for both qualitative and quantitative variables, as long as a confidence interval —most commonly the 95% CI— can be calculated. This graph not only allows the presentation of results from univariate analyses but also from multivariable analyses, making it applicable to diverse fields of scientific knowledge. In this article, we present, in addition to the history of the forest plot, a description of its components —its anatomy— and a tutorial on how to create one using statistical software.
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