About the Authors
- Zhenglun Pan
-
Affiliation Department of Rheumatology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Jinan 250021, Shandong, China
- Thomas A Trikalinos
-
Affiliations Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece, Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, Department of Medicine, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Fotini K Kavvoura
-
Affiliation Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece
- Joseph Lau
-
Affiliation Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, Department of Medicine, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- John P.A Ioannidis
-
*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jioannid@cc.uoi.gr
Affiliations Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece, Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, Department of Medicine, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, Biomedical Research Institute, Foundation for Research and Technology–Hellas, Ioannina, Greece
Competing Interests
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Author Contributions
The original idea for this study arose in an electronic conversation between ZP and JPAI. JPAI drafted the protocol that was critically evaluated by all other authors. ZP performed all the database searches. ZP performed the data extraction that was duplicated by FKK and JL. TAT performed the statistical analyses. JPAI wrote the final draft. All authors interpreted the results, commented critically on the manuscript, and approved its final version.