Response to Letter by van der Jagt et al (published in the January 2008 issue)

Response:We thank Dr van der Jagt et al for their interest in our meta-analysis on the risk of rupture of unruptured aneurysms, and for their considerations on methodological quality of the parent articles included in the review and on the influence of publication bias on the results of the review.In our meta-analysis we rated the quality of a study as high when it fulfilled all three following criteria: prospective study design, loss to follow-up <3% and a clear diagnosis of subarachnoid hemorrhage.1 van der Jagt et al suggest that size and location of the aneurysms should have been taken into account as quality criteria because these factors might have confounded our rupture risks.2 We agree that size and location of the aneurysm are very …