Meta-Analysis of Controlled Clinical TrialsOver the last twenty years there has been a dramatic upsurge in the application of meta-analysis to medical research. This has mainly been due to greater emphasis on evidence-based medicine and the need for reliable summaries of the vast and expanding volume of clinical research. At the same time there have been great strides in the development and refinement of the associated statistical methodology. This book describes the planning, conduct and reporting of a meta-analysis as applied to a series of randomized controlled clinical trials.
Ideally suited for practising statisticians and statistically-minded medical professionals, the book will also be of use to graduate students of medical statistics. The book is a self-contained and comprehensive account of the subject and an essential purchase for anyone involved in clinical trials. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Protocol development | 11 |
Estimating the treatment difference in an individual | 23 |
32233 | 50 |
Combining estimates of a treatment difference | 57 |
Metaanalysis using individual patient data | 99 |
Dealing with heterogeneity | 151 |
Presentation and interpretation of results | 175 |
Sequential methods for metaanalysis | 285 |
Methods of estimation and hypothesis testing | 305 |
The method of weighted least squares | 308 |
Likelihood efficient score and Fishers information | 311 |
Iteratively weighted least squares | 312 |
Maximum likelihood methods for general linear mixed models | 314 |
Iterative generalized least squares for normally distributed data | 316 |
Marginal quasilikelihood and penalized quasilikelihood methods for discrete data | 317 |
Selection bias | 197 |
Dealing with nonstandard data sets | 215 |
Inclusion of trials with different study designs | 241 |
A Bayesian approach to metaanalysis | 259 |
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329 | |