A Systematic Review of Methods for Handling Missing Variance Data in Meta-Analyses of Interventions in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Meta-analysis is of critical importance to decision makers to assess the comparative efficacy and safety of interventions and is integral to health technology assessment. A major problem for the meta-analysis of continuous outcomes is that associated variance data are not consistently reported in trial publications. The omission of studies from a meta-analysis due to incomplete reporting may introduce bias. The objectives of this study are to summarise and describe the methods used for handling missing variance data in meta-analyses in populations with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods

Electronic databases, Embase, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Library (accessed June 2015), were systematically searched to identify meta-analyses of interventions in patients with T2DM.

SUBMITTER: Batson S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5066955 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature