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3.6.1 Dichotomous Comparisons
The various dichotomous comparisons were carried out for the different clinical
outcomes and treatment for IPF using pirfenidone with NAC. In the present research, the
conditions such as efficacy of pirfenidone with NAC, the selection of control with factors of
adjustment such as age, gender, socioeconomic status and so on were grouped and compared.
The collected data were input into the Rev-Man 5.3 software and statistical analysis was
conducted using the collected data. Statistical analysis comprises of the following estimationestimation
of overall size effect measurement, effect size, sensitivity analysis, publication
bias, and heterogeneity analysis (Leandro, 2004; Borenstein et al., 2009). The risks related to
individual researches selected for meta-analysis were calculated and combined to provide the
total estimation of risks. The present research was designed based on the determination of
Efficacy of pharmacological intervention (pirfenidone with N-acetylcysteine) of idiopathic
pulmonary fibrosis wherein a meta-analysis is deemed suitable for such a research.
3.6.2 Heterogeneity assessment
The assessment of heterogeneity is based on the determination of variation extend of
the selected studies for meta-analysis. Heterogeneity assessment is one important component
in meta-analysis wherein there are cases when included studies have variations which may
mislead the research (Borenstein et al., 2009; Leandro, 2004). The assessment of
heterogeneity could be performed based on several tests such as I 2 statistic, Cochran’s Q test,
H statistic or R statistic (Huedo-Medina et al., 2006). It is deemed that the Q statistic could
not be used separately as such tends to possess low power heterogeneity determination and
the value depends on the number of studies considered for the meta-analysis. In this regard,
the I 2 statistic is computed which is claimed to possess better measure of heterogeneity. The
Rev Man 5.3 software is used which reports both the I 2 and Q statistic and hence could be
used for the assessment of heterogeneity.
3.6.3 Sensitivity analysis
Sensitivity analysis is performed so as to improve the robustness of the present metaanalysis.
Furthermore, sensitivity analysis also tends to validate the result through the
comparison of various results of the selected studies (Walker et al., 2008). In the present
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