This is an archived version of the Handbook. For the current version, please go to training.cochrane.org/handbook/current.

Box 15.6.a: Statement of a decision not to conduct a meta-analysis of resource use or cost data

“[Resource use and cost outcomes] were not pooled as the outcomes were not considered comparable across trials…The results are specific to the countries in which the studies were undertaken because of differences between the public health systems. The detailed reports show very different apportionment of costs between different items in different countries.” (Birks 2006).