Riley, RD, Elia, EG, Malin, G, Hemming, K and Price, MP (2015) Multivariate meta-analysis of prognostic factor studies with multiple cut-points and/or methods of measurement. Stat Med, 34 (17). 2481 - 2496. ISSN 0277-6715

[thumbnail of R Riley - Multivariate meta-analysis of prognostic factor studies with multiple cut-points and or methods of measurement.pdf]
Preview
Text
R Riley - Multivariate meta-analysis of prognostic factor studies with multiple cut-points and or methods of measurement.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (694kB) | Preview

Abstract

A prognostic factor is any measure that is associated with the risk of future health outcomes in those with existing disease. Often, the prognostic ability of a factor is evaluated in multiple studies. However, meta-analysis is difficult because primary studies often use different methods of measurement and/or different cut-points to dichotomise continuous factors into 'high' and 'low' groups; selective reporting is also common. We illustrate how multivariate random effects meta-analysis models can accommodate multiple prognostic effect estimates from the same study, relating to multiple cut-points and/or methods of measurement. The models account for within-study and between-study correlations, which utilises more information and reduces the impact of unreported cut-points and/or measurement methods in some studies. The applicability of the approach is improved with individual participant data and by assuming a functional relationship between prognostic effect and cut-point to reduce the number of unknown parameters. The models provide important inferential results for each cut-point and method of measurement, including the summary prognostic effect, the between-study variance and a 95% prediction interval for the prognostic effect in new populations. Two applications are presented. The first reveals that, in a multivariate meta-analysis using published results, the Apgar score is prognostic of neonatal mortality but effect sizes are smaller at most cut-points than previously thought. In the second, a multivariate meta-analysis of two methods of measurement provides weak evidence that microvessel density is prognostic of mortality in lung cancer, even when individual participant data are available so that a continuous prognostic trend is examined (rather than cut-points).

Item Type: Article
Subjects: R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine
Divisions: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Primary Care Health Sciences
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Symplectic
Date Deposited: 17 Dec 2015 11:12
Last Modified: 13 Aug 2018 10:26
URI: https://eprints.keele.ac.uk/id/eprint/1315

Actions (login required)

View Item
View Item