Sponsorship Bias in Clinical Trials in the Dental Application of Probiotics: A Meta-Epidemiological Study.

ABSTRACT: Many experimental and clinical trials have investigated the dental application of probiotics, although the evidence concerning the effects of probiotic supplements is conflicting. We aimed to examine whether sponsorship in trials about dental applications of probiotics is associated with biased estimates of treatment effects. Overall, 13 meta-analyses involving 48 randomized controlled trials (23 with high risk of sponsorship bias, 25 with low risk) with continuous outcomes were included. Effect sizes were calculated from differences in means of first reported continuous outcomes, divided by the pooled standard deviation. For each meta-analysis, the difference in standardized mean differences between high-risk and low-risk trials was estimated by random effects meta-regression. Differences

SUBMITTER: Hu Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9413900 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature