How to impute study-specific standard deviations in meta-analyses of skewed continuous endpoints?

Table 1 Distributions of the continuous endpoint for treatment and control groups

Scenario	Endpoint distribution
	Treatment group	Control group
Normal	Mean = 5 and SD = 2	Mean = 7 and SD = 2
Standard normal	Mean = 0 and SD = 1	Mean = 0 and SD = 1
Gamma	Alpha = 2 and beta = 5	Alpha = 2 and beta = 7
Exponential	Mean = 5 and lambda = 0.2	Mean = 7 and lambda = 0.14
Bimodal	50% Normal distribution with mean = 5 and SD = 2 and 50% standard normal distribution	50% Normal distribution with mean = 7 and SD = 2 and 50% standard normal distribution
ICU stay	Real-life data	Real-life data
Hospital stay	Real-life data	Real-life data

ICU: Intensive care unit.