-
Statistics in medicine · Dec 1997
Incorporation of sequential trials into a fixed effects meta-analysis.
- S Todd.
- Medical and Pharmaceutical Statistics Research Unit, University of Reading, Berkshire, U.K.
- Stat Med. 1997 Dec 30; 16 (24): 2915-25.
AbstractThe technique of meta-analysis provides a systematic and quantitative approach to the summary of results from a collection of similar randomized studies. Comprehensive methodology exists for analysis when all trials are of a fixed sample size design, but this is based on assumptions which are no longer valid when incorporating sequentially designed studies. In this paper the effect of incorporating one or more sequential trials into a meta-analysis otherwise consisting of fixed sample size trials is investigated. The results from simulation studies of a variety of plausible scenarios are presented. The aim is to quantify the extent to which bias is introduced. It was found that when incorporating two alternative sequential designs, the triangular test and the O'Brien and Fleming procedure, the results of a conventional meta-analysis remain accurate.
Notes
Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
- Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as
*italics*,_underline_or**bold**. - Superscript can be denoted by
<sup>text</sup>and subscript<sub>text</sub>. - Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines
1. 2. 3., hyphens-or asterisks*. - Links can be included with:
[my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com) - Images can be included with:
 - For footnotes use
[^1](This is a footnote.)inline. - Or use an inline reference
[^1]to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document[^1]: This is a long footnote..