Abbreviated and comprehensive literature searches led to identical or very similar effect estimates: a meta-epidemiological study.
- Ewald H Department of Clinical Research, Basel Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; University Medical Library, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
- Klerings I Cochrane Austria, Department of Evidence-based Medicine and Evaluation, Danube University Krems, Krems, Austria.
- Wagner G Cochrane Austria, Department of Evidence-based Medicine and Evaluation, Danube University Krems, Krems, Austria.
- Heise TL Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS), Bremen, Germany; Institute for Public Health and Nursing Research (IPP), Health Sciences Bremen, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
- Dobrescu AI Cochrane Austria, Department of Evidence-based Medicine and Evaluation, Danube University Krems, Krems, Austria.
- Armijo-Olivo S Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta & Institute of Health Economics, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Business and Social Sciences, Osnabrück, Germany.
- Stratil JM Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology, Pettenkofer School of Public Health, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.
- Lhachimi SK Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS), Bremen, Germany; Institute for Public Health and Nursing Research (IPP), Health Sciences Bremen, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
- Mittermayr T Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Health Technology Assessment, Austria.
- Gartlehner G Cochrane Austria, Department of Evidence-based Medicine and Evaluation, Danube University Krems, Krems, Austria; RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
- Nussbaumer-Streit B Cochrane Austria, Department of Evidence-based Medicine and Evaluation, Danube University Krems, Krems, Austria.
- Hemkens LG Department of Clinical Research, Basel Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: Lars.Hemkens@usb.ch.
- 2020-08-12
Published in:
- Journal of clinical epidemiology. - 2020
Bibliographic database
Meta-epidemiological study
Precision
Rapid review
Search strategy
Systematic review
English
OBJECTIVES
The objective of this study was to assess the agreement of treatment effect estimates from meta-analyses based on abbreviated or comprehensive literature searches.
STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING
This was a meta-epidemiological study. We abbreviated 47 comprehensive Cochrane review searches and searched MEDLINE/Embase/CENTRAL alone, in combination, with/without checking references (658 new searches). We compared one meta-analysis from each review with recalculated ones based on abbreviated searches.
RESULTS
The 47 original meta-analyses included 444 trials (median 6 per review [interquartile range (IQR) 3-11]) with 360045 participants (median 1,371 per review [IQR 685-8,041]). Depending on the search approach, abbreviated searches led to identical effect estimates in 34-79% of meta-analyses, to different effect estimates with the same direction and level of statistical significance in 15-51%, and to opposite effects (or effects could not be estimated anymore) in 6-13%. The deviation of effect sizes was zero in 50% of the meta-analyses and in 75% not larger than 1.07-fold. Effect estimates of abbreviated searches were not consistently smaller or larger (median ratio of odds ratio 1 [IQR 1-1.01]) but more imprecise (1.02-1.06-fold larger standard errors).
CONCLUSION
Abbreviated literature searches often led to identical or very similar effect estimates as comprehensive searches with slightly increased confidence intervals. Relevant deviations may occur.
The objective of this study was to assess the agreement of treatment effect estimates from meta-analyses based on abbreviated or comprehensive literature searches.
STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING
This was a meta-epidemiological study. We abbreviated 47 comprehensive Cochrane review searches and searched MEDLINE/Embase/CENTRAL alone, in combination, with/without checking references (658 new searches). We compared one meta-analysis from each review with recalculated ones based on abbreviated searches.
RESULTS
The 47 original meta-analyses included 444 trials (median 6 per review [interquartile range (IQR) 3-11]) with 360045 participants (median 1,371 per review [IQR 685-8,041]). Depending on the search approach, abbreviated searches led to identical effect estimates in 34-79% of meta-analyses, to different effect estimates with the same direction and level of statistical significance in 15-51%, and to opposite effects (or effects could not be estimated anymore) in 6-13%. The deviation of effect sizes was zero in 50% of the meta-analyses and in 75% not larger than 1.07-fold. Effect estimates of abbreviated searches were not consistently smaller or larger (median ratio of odds ratio 1 [IQR 1-1.01]) but more imprecise (1.02-1.06-fold larger standard errors).
CONCLUSION
Abbreviated literature searches often led to identical or very similar effect estimates as comprehensive searches with slightly increased confidence intervals. Relevant deviations may occur.
- Language
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- English
- Open access status
- hybrid
- Identifiers
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- DOI 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2020.08.002
- PMID 32781114
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/139304
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