Optimally estimating the sample standard deviation from the five‐number summary

When reporting the results of clinical studies, some researchers may choose the five‐number summary (including the sample median, the first and third quartiles, and the minimum and maximum values) rather than the sample mean and standard deviation (SD), particularly for skewed data. For these studies, when included in a meta‐analysis, it is often desired to convert the five‐number summary back to the sample mean and SD. For this purpose, several...