Meta-analytic Nested Case-Control — Pooled Synthesis of Nested Designs

Meta-analytic nested case-control analysis combines the efficiency advantages of the nested case-control design — in which cases and matched controls are sampled from a defined cohort — with the statistical power and generalisability gained by pooling estimates from multiple such studies. This approach is especially valuable in chronic-disease epidemiology where individual studies are often underpowered to detect modest exposure-outcome associations.