Automatically Extracting Numerical Results from Randomized Controlled Trials with Large Language Models

Understand

Meta-analyses statistically aggregate the findings of different randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess treatment effectiveness.

• Because this yields robust estimates of treatment effectiveness, results from meta-analyses are considered the strongest form of evidence.
• However, rigorous evidence syntheses are time-consuming and labor-intensive, requiring manual extraction of data from individual trials to be synthesized.
• Ideally, language technologies would permit fully automatic meta-analysis, on demand.