2005
Grassi et al., 2005
135.5
123.6
-11.9
135.6
134.7
-0.9
Fraga et al., 2005
123
117
-6.0
123
121
-2.0
Source
Mean mm
Hg, Cocoa
treatment
before DBP
Mean mm
Hg, Cocoa
treatment
after DBP
Chocolate
treatment
change in
DBP
Control
before DBP
Control after
DBP
Control
change in
DBP
Taubert et al., 2003
84.5
82.9
-1.6
84.2
84.5
+0.3
Engler et al., 2004
68.1
69.0
+0.9
66.1
66.0
-0.1
Grassi et al., 2005
71.6
67.5
-4.1
71.6
71.0
-0.6
Grassi et al., 2005
88
79.6
-8.4
87.6
87.5
-0.1
Fraga et al., 2005
72
67
-5.0
71
70
-1.0
STEP 2.
Now look at the second article posted on Canvas by Garcia-Yu et al.
, 2020
. Remember to look at our suggestions for how to approach reading primary literature at the top of this document. 1.
After skimming the article, identify the components of this research listed below and fill in each line. a.
Overall research question: How does consumption of cocoa rich chocolate affect blood pressure, cardiovascular risk factors, and arterial stiffness in postmenopausal women?
b.
Independent variable: The independent variable is the consumption of cocoa-rich chocolate
. c.
Dependent variable(s): The dependent variables are blood pressure, cardiovascular risk factors, LDL cholesterol, plasma lipid profile, insulin concentration, etc. d.
Conclusions/their answer to the research question: Daily cocoa-rich chocolate consumption led to little improvement to cardiovascular health and no positive or negative effect in postmenopausal women. 2.
This article was published after our example meta-analysis. Based on the data used in the study, could this paper have been included in our example meta-analysis if it had been published earlier? (Ask yourself: do the variables match those used in the other included studies?) Support your answer with a
brief justification of your decision. The article could be used as an example of meta analysis since it included crucial parts of meta analysis such as randomized participants, a control and experimental group, and results. The variables, blood pressure, cardiovascular risk factors, and arterial stiffness, were all measured during the experiment which suggests the article matches the scope of a meta analysis. 3.
In addition to looking at the data, what other considerations should you make about the research before including this study in our example meta-analysis? List at least 2 other considerations. A few considerations should be including a larger number of subjects to have better results to reflect real world results. Another consideration should be reproducibility. The ability for the study to be reproduced is critical for accurate and real world results to be included in meta analysis. Page 2
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