EBM NOTEBOOK
The devil is in the details...or not? A primer on individual patient data meta-analysis
1 University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2 McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
A systematic review is the process by which primary studies are identified, critically appraised, and interpreted according to a predefined plan to answer clinically important questions with minimal bias and random error. When the results are quantitatively combined, the review is referred to as a "meta-analysis." Meta-analysis provides more precise estimates of treatment benefits and harms, may reveal treatment effects that would otherwise go undetected in individual trials, and provides a succinct "bottom line" for a clinical question based on the best available evidence.1 A variation of this method is individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis where analyses are done using original data and outcomes for each person enrolled in relevant studies; patient databases from each study are combined into a single large database, and analysed using methods that account for variation both within studies and between studies.
What is the difference between conventional and IPD meta-analysis? In conventional meta-analysis, aggregated
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
