Custom effect size plot.

In quantitative evidence syntheses, effect sizes are usually visualized using forest plots. However, forest plots can only be used when multiple studies have used exactly the same outcome.

We conducted a systematic review in which multiple studies measured similar but different outcomes, meaning a forest plot wasn’t appropriate. To make the varied results still visualizable in a streamlined way, I created one-of-a-kind effect size plots that convey the same information as a forest plot - the magnitude of the association (indicated by the number of boxes; triangles were used where the effect size could not be calculated), direction of the association (indicated by + or - or 0), and significance of the association as reported in the original study (filled in black).

This plot is one of four custom plots that was published in BMJ Open.