A model for meta-analysis of correlated binary outcomes: The case of split-body interventions.

ABSTRACT: In several areas of clinical research, it is common for trials to assign different sites of the participants' bodies to different interventions. For example, a randomized controlled trial comparing surgical techniques for correcting myopia may randomize each eye of a participant to a different operation. Under such bilateral ('split-body') interventions, the observations from each participant are correlated. It is challenging to account for these correlations at the meta-analysis level, especially when the outcome is rare. Here, we present a meta-analysis model based on the bivariate binomial distribution. Our model can synthesize studies on patients who received one intervention at one body site, patients who received two interventions at different sites or a mixture of these two groups.

SUBMITTER: Efthimiou O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6613182 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature