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AuthorChang, Xu
AuthorFuruya-Kanamori, Luis
AuthorZorzela, Liliane
AuthorLin, Lifeng
AuthorVohra, Sunita
Available date2021-02-24T10:57:00Z
Publication Date2021-02-13
Publication NameJournal of Clinical Epidemiology
Identifierhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.02.012
CitationChang Xu , Luis Furuya-Kanamori , Liliane Zorzela , Lifeng Lin , Sunita Vohra , A proposed framework to guide evidence synthesis practice for metaanalysis with zero-events studies, Journal of Clinical Epidemiology (2021), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.02.012
ISSN08954356
URIhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0895435621000494?v=s5
URIhttp://hdl.handle.net/10576/17795
AbstractObjectiveIn evidence synthesis practice, researchers often face the problem of how to deal with zero-events. Inappropriately dealing with zero-events studies may lead to research waste and mislead healthcare practice. We propose a framework to guide researchers to better deal with zero-events in meta-analysis. Study Design and SettingWe used two dimensions, one with respect to the total events count across all studies in the comparative arms in a meta-analysis, and a second with respect to whether included studies have single or both arms with zero-events, to establish the framework for the classification of meta-analysis with zero-events studies. A dataset from Cochrane systematic reviews was used to evaluate the classification. ResultsThe proposed framework classifies meta-analysis with zero-events studies into six subtypes. The classification matched well to the large real-world dataset. The applicability of existing methods for zero-events were then presented under each meta-analysis subtype based on this framework, with a 5-step principle to help researchers in evidence synthesis practice. ConclusionsThe proposed framework should be considered by researchers when making decisions on the selection of the synthesis methods in a meta-analysis. It also provides a reasonable basis for the development of methodological guidelines to deal with zero-events in meta-analysis.
Languageen
PublisherElsevier
Subjectmeta-analysis
zero-events studies
classification framework
guideline
TitleA proposed framework to guide evidence synthesis practice for meta-analysis with zero-events studies
TypeArticle
Open Access user License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.accessType Open Access


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