# What to do in meta-analysis if confidence interval not symmetrical?

I'm about to make a meta analysis of a particular topic. I'm using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) ver. 3.0 for that reason. However, after I input all the necessary data, the software refused to create the forest plot because the studies included have asymmetrical confidence interval.

I checked out that the default for 'allowed asymmetric CI ratio' is 1.10. I've changed the ratio to 2.0, which is the maximum input available. Even after that, there is one study that has asymmetrical CI ratio > 2.0.

What I'm asking is: 1. Is there any solution to minimize the asymmetry of the CI of the studies? 2. Is there any solution to alter the 'allowed asymmetric CI ratio' to more than 2.0 so no study will be excluded in forest plot in CMA?

If it turns out that a transformation can minimize the asymmetry of the CI, is the data still valid and presentable?

Secondly, I suspect the warning indicates that the program is presumably (I don't know for sure, but the warning does not make sense otherwise) indicates that the program is trying to treat the data from each study as following a N(estimate, SE) distribution. For that purpose it is probably trying to get the SE from the confidence interval width assuming that a 95% CI is given by estimate $$\pm$$ 1.96 $$\times$$ SE. In your case that would seem to be very inappropriate. So, do not ignore the warning.