Meta-Analysis Forest Plot: Pooling Clinical Trials

A meta-analysis combines the effect estimates of many independent clinical trials into one pooled number — the statistical backbone of evidence-based medicine. This simulator generates a cohort of simulated trials, each with its own sample size, standard error and observed log risk ratio, and renders them as a real 3D forest plot: box size shows each study's inverse-variance weight, whisker length shows its 95% confidence interval, and a red diamond at the front row shows the pooled estimate. Toggle between the fixed-effect and DerSimonian–Laird random-effects models, dial in the between-study heterogeneity, and watch the I² statistic, Q test and pooled confidence interval respond exactly as they would in a real Cochrane review.