2.5. Statistical Analysis

After the initial screening process, full text articles were included for the final and complete review. The data of the studies which were finalized and were ready to be included in the study were entered into an Excel sheet. The data from the respective finalized studies included Odds Ratio values and their corresponding Confidence interval values (95% CIs).

All the statistical analysis and forest plots were generated using the statistical software STATA version 16.0. The values of Odds Ratio’s and Confidence intervals collected were subjected to statistical conversion by applying Log to Odds Ratio’s and 95% CIs into their respective Risk Ratio values and their CIs. These were considered as effect size values. A standard error (SE) has been estimated based on the calculated log values of 95% Confidence Intervals. A funnel plot was generated by obtaining standard error values and the effect size values, whereas the Forest plots were populated based on the collected values of ORs and the estimated 95% CIs based on overall effect size from their respective finalized studies.