Meta-analysis of alcohol price and income elasticities - with corrections for publication bias.

ABSTRACT:

Background

This paper contributes to the evidence-base on prices and alcohol use by presenting meta-analytic summaries of price and income elasticities for alcohol beverages. The analysis improves on previous meta-analyses by correcting for outliers and publication bias.

Methods

Adjusting for outliers is important to avoid assigning too much weight to studies with very small standard errors or large effect sizes. Trimmed samples are used for this purpose. Correcting for publication bias is important to avoid giving too much weight to studies that reflect selection by investigators or others involved with publication processes. Cumulative meta-analysis is proposed as a method to avoid or reduce publication bias, resulting in more robust estimates. The literature search obtain

SUBMITTER: Nelson JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3722038 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature