A new approach to outliers in meta-analysis

Baker, RD and Jackson, D 2008, 'A new approach to outliers in meta-analysis' , Healthcare Management Science, 11 (2) , pp. 121-131.

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

The synthesis of evidence from trials and medical studies using meta-analysis is essential for Evidence Based Medicine. However, problematical outlying results often occur even under the random-effects model. We propose a model that allows a long-tailed distribution for the random effect, which removes the necessity for an arbitrary decision to include or exclude outliers. In this approach, they are included, but with a reduced weight. We also introduce a modification of the forest plot to show the downweighting of outliers. We illustrate the methodology and its usefulness by carrying out both frequentist and Bayesian meta-analyses using data sets from the Cochrane Collaboration.

Item Type:	Article
Themes:	Health and Wellbeing
Schools:	Schools > Salford Business School > Salford Business School Research Centre
Journal or Publication Title:	Healthcare Management Science
Publisher:	Springer
Refereed:	Yes
ISSN:	1386-9620
Depositing User:	Prof Rose Dawn Baker
Date Deposited:	24 Nov 2011 11:50
Last Modified:	29 Oct 2015 00:48
URI:	http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/19014

Actions (login required)

Edit record (repository staff only)