Figures & data
Figure 1. Forest plot showing the weighted mean effect (with 95% confidence intervals) of antibiotic cement in reducing the risk of infection in primary total hip arthroplasty. In the graph, values of less than 1 indicate increasing effectiveness of antibiotic cement and values greater than 1 indicate greater effectiveness of non‐antibiotic cement. When the 95% confidence intervals are entirely within the negative range, this corresponds to statistical significance at the p < 0.05 level in the cumulative meta‐analysis. The forest plot shows that statistical significance was reached by only 1 of the individual studies in relation to prevention of infection. While the other studies did not reach statistical significance, the trend was clearly in favor of antibiotic cement.
Figure 2. Forest plot showing a reduction in relative risk of revision of primary total hip replacements when antibiotic‐impregnated cement is used. In the graph, values of less than 1 indicate increasing effectiveness of antibiotic cement and values greater than 1 indicate greater effectiveness of non‐antibiotic cement. When the 95% confidence intervals are entirely within the negative range, this corresponds to statistical significance at the p < 0.05 level in the cumulative meta‐analysis.
Figure 3. Funnel plot showing sample size vs. relative risk in the studies included in the meta‐analysis.
