{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T18:22:17Z","timestamp":1787682137413,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]],"date-time":"2026-07-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785456000000},"content-version":"am","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Meta-analyses provide the highest level of evidence within academic health literature. However, they vary significantly in quality and bias. Existing methodological assessment tools for meta-analyses are often time consuming and difficult for clinicians to use. The Meta-analysis Critique (MAC) tool was developed as a simple 3-question screening instrument designed to quickly appraise study quality. In this study, temporal trends and correlations between the MAC tool and AMSTAR 2 (the current gold standard) were analyzed. MEDLINE and Embase were searched for plastic surgery meta-analyses published between 2011 and 2023, and 283 studies were identified. These were independently assessed by 2 reviewers using both AMSTAR 2 and the MAC tool. While the volume of meta-analyses in plastic surgery significantly increased in the latter half of the decade (n = 68 [24%] vs n = 215 [76%]), the proportion of high-quality studies did not improve. Compared to AMSTAR 2, the MAC tool obtained high specificities when assessing the research question (100.00%; 95% CI, 90.97%-100.00%), appropriateness of the statistical analysis (96.23%; 95% CI, 87.02%-99.54%), and risk of bias (98.97%; 95% CI, 94.39%-99.97%). This study presents a novel tool that simplifies assessment of plastic surgery literature and identifies poor-quality meta-analyses but is not intended as a confirmatory quality-assessment instrument. The results obtained with the MAC tool show a strong correlation with the gold-standard AMSTAR 2. Future studies should aim to validate this tool and determine its broader reliability in other specialties.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/asj\/sjag162","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T12:00:39Z","timestamp":1785412839000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Rapid Identification of Low-Quality Meta-Analyses in Plastic Surgery Using the Meta-Analysis Critique (MAC) Tool"],"prefix":"10.1093","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8811-5712","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cameron F","family":"Leveille","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Natalia","family":"Lewandowski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9841-3115","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Quentin K","family":"Tsang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4101-0542","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Isabella F","family":"Churchill","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xi M","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5152-9471","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lucas","family":"Gallo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3640-5347","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Brian","family":"Chin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5094-9888","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christopher J","family":"Coroneos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026082513461167100_sjag162-B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"512","DOI":"10.1007\/s00134-018-5102-3","article-title":"Are systematic reviews and meta-analyses still useful research? 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