Bmc Med Res Methodol
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Bmc Med Res Methodol · Nov 2018
Meta AnalysisPrognostic models for intracerebral hemorrhage: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Prognostic tools for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients are potentially useful for ascertaining prognosis and recommended in guidelines to facilitate streamline assessment and communication between providers. In this systematic review with meta-analysis we identified and characterized all existing prognostic tools for this population, performed a methodological evaluation of the conducting and reporting of such studies and compared different methods of prognostic tool derivation in terms of discrimination for mortality and functional outcome prediction. ⋯ Prognostic tools for ICH discriminated well for mortality and functional outcome in derivation studies but methodological issues require confirmation of these findings in validation studies. Logistic regression based risk scores are particularly promising given their good performance and ease of application.
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Bmc Med Res Methodol · Jan 2016
Meta AnalysisMeta-analytic estimation of measurement variability and assessment of its impact on decision-making: the case of perioperative haemoglobin concentration monitoring.
As a part of a larger Health Technology Assessment (HTA), the measurement error of a device used to monitor the hemoglobin concentration of a patient undergoing surgery, as well as its decision consequences, were to be estimated from published data. ⋯ The proposed hierarchical model allows the estimation of the variability from published aggregates, and allows the modeling of the consequences of this variability in terms of decision errors. For the device under assessment, these potential decision errors are clinically problematic.
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Bmc Med Res Methodol · Jan 2014
Meta AnalysisAn overview of the statistical methods reported by studies using the Canadian community health survey.
The Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) is a cross-sectional survey that has collected information on health determinants, health status and the utilization of the health system in Canada since 2001. Several hundred articles have been written utilizing the CCHS dataset. Previous analyses of statistical methods utilized in the literature have focused on a particular journal or set of journals to understand the statistical literacy required for understanding the published research. In this study, we describe the statistical methods referenced in the published literature utilizing the CCHS dataset(s). ⋯ Our study shows a diverse set of analysis methods being referenced in the CCHS literature, however, the literature heavily relies on only a subset of all possible statistical tools. This information can be used in identifying gaps in statistical methods that could be applied to future analysis of public health surveys, insight into training and educational programs, and also identifies the level of statistical literacy needed to understand the published literature.
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Bmc Med Res Methodol · Oct 2013
Review Meta AnalysisA systematic review and meta-analysis of acute stroke unit care: what's beyond the statistical significance?
The benefits of stroke unit care in terms of reducing death, dependency and institutional care were demonstrated in a 2009 Cochrane review carried out by the Stroke Unit Trialists' Collaboration. ⋯ These findings demonstrate that a well-conducted meta-analysis can produce results that can be of value to policymakers but the choice of inclusion/exclusion criteria and outcomes in this context needs careful consideration. The financing of interventions such as stroke units that increase independency and reduce inpatient stays are worthwhile in a context of an ageing population with increasing care needs. One limitation of this study was the selection of trials published in only four languages: English, French, Dutch and German. This choice was pragmatic in the context of this study, where the objective was to support health authorities in their decision processes.
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Bmc Med Res Methodol · Apr 2009
Meta AnalysisQuality of reporting internal and external validity data from randomized controlled trials evaluating stents for percutaneous coronary intervention.
Stents are commonly used to treat patients with coronary artery disease. However, the quality of reporting internal and external validity data in published reports of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of stents has never been assessed.The objective of our study was to evaluate the quality of reporting internal and external validity data in published reports of RCTs assessing the stents for percutaneous coronary interventions. ⋯ The current reporting of results of RCTs testing stents needs to be improved to allow readers to appraise the risk of bias and the applicability of the results.