International journal of epidemiology
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Despite the great possibility of publication bias in studies of diagnostic test research, empirical studies about publication bias have mainly focused on studies of treatment effect. ⋯ Further research is required to explain why smaller studies tended to report greater test accuracy in a large proportion of meta-analyses of diagnostic tests. In systematic reviews of diagnostic studies, literature search should be sufficiently comprehensive and possible impact of publication bias should be assessed.
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Biography Historical Article
Two lives, three legs, one journey: a retrospective appreciation of Zena Stein and Mervyn Susser.
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Excluding clinical trials reported in languages other than English from meta-analyses may introduce bias and reduce the precision of combined estimates of treatment effects. We examined the influence of trials published in languages other than English on combined estimates and conclusions of published meta-analyses. ⋯ This retrospective analysis suggests that excluding trials published in languages other than English has generally little effect on summary treatment effect estimates. The importance of non-English language trials is, however, difficult to predict for individual systematic reviews. Comprehensive literature searches followed by a careful assessment of trial quality are required to assess the contribution of all relevant trials, independent of language of publication.
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Biography Historical Article
Zena Stein, Mervyn Susser and epidemiology: observation, causation and action.
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Randomized trials are important for controlling selection biases, and where sufficient numbers of participants are involved, have the potential to yield reliable estimates of treatment effects. ⋯ The continued increase in the number of larger trials reported is encouraging, especially if it represents an increase in the size of trials more generally. Further research is needed to determine whether the trends over time identified here are reflective more of trends in the actual conduct of, rather than simply the reporting, of randomized trials.