Individual participant data meta-analysis for a binary outcome: one-stage or two-stage?

ABSTRACT:

Background

A fundamental aspect of epidemiological studies concerns the estimation of factor-outcome associations to identify risk factors, prognostic factors and potential causal factors. Because reliable estimates for these associations are important, there is a growing interest in methods for combining the results from multiple studies in individual participant data meta-analyses (IPD-MA). When there is substantial heterogeneity across studies, various random-effects meta-analysis models are possible that employ a one-stage or two-stage method. These are generally thought to produce similar results, but empirical comparisons are few.

Objective

We describe and compare several one- and two-stage random-effects IPD-MA methods for estimating factor-outcome associations from m

SUBMITTER: Debray TP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3621872 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature