A study on the effects of different levels of data on the overall meta-analysis estimates

Nik Idris, Nik Ruzni and Abdullah, Mimi Hafizah (2015) A study on the effects of different levels of data on the overall meta-analysis estimates. Far East Journal of Mathematical Sciences (FJMS), 96 (1). pp. 73-86. ISSN 0972-0871

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Abstract

Meta-analysis that pools two levels of data, namely, aggregate data (AD) and individual patient data (IPD) is increasingly common. The implications of pooling these data on the overall meta-analysis estimates have not been fully explored. We examined some of the statistical properties of overall estimate of the treatment effects from meta-analysis which combine the AD and IPD studies. We compared these estimates with those from the all-AD and all-IPD meta-analyses in terms of the bias, root-mean-square-error and coverage probability. We used simulated meta-analyses to evaluate the behaviour of these estimates. The results indicated superiority of estimates from IPD meta-analysis, compared to those from combined-level studies and AD studies, in terms of the accuracy and efficiency of the estimates. Additionally, for the same statistical properties examined, the estimates from combined-level studies displayed better results over those from all-AD meta-analysis. In the scenario involving different ratios of AD:IPD, we found that combined-level studies generated estimates with better statistical properties, irrelevant of the composition of the AD:IPD ratio. Therefore, whenever possible, we recommend the inclusion of available IPD studies when conducting traditional AD meta-analysis.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Additional Information:	4059/42216
Uncontrolled Keywords:	data, meta-analysis
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Science > Department of Computational and Theoretical Sciences
Depositing User:	Dr Nik Ruzni Nik Idris
Date Deposited:	09 Mar 2015 13:29
Last Modified:	31 Jul 2015 15:50
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/42216

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