Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29370830›Full record

ArticleSystematic reviews2018

A comparison of meta-analytic methods for synthesizing evidence from explanatory and pragmatic trials.

Tolulope T Sajobi, Guowei Li, Oluwagbohunmi Awosoga, Meng Wang, Bijoy K Menon, Michael D Hill, Lehana Thabane

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Systematic reviews, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Meta-analysis of Pragmatic and Explanatory Trials.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2022
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Tolulope T SajobiDepartment of Community Health Sciences and O'Brien Institute for Public Health, University of Calgary, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 4Z6, Canada. tolu.sajobi@ucalgary.ca.ORCID 0000-0002-5696-5552
Guowei LiDepartment of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Oluwagbohunmi AwosogaFaculty of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
Meng WangDepartment of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Bijoy K MenonDepartment of Clinical Neurosciences and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Michael D HillDepartment of Clinical Neurosciences and Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Lehana ThabaneDepartment of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe pragmatic-explanatory continuum indicator summary version 2 (PRECIS-2) tool has recently been developed to classify randomized clinical trials (RCTs) as pragmatic or explanatory based on their design characteristics. Given that treatment effects in explanatory trials may be greater than those obtained in pragmatic trials, conventional meta-analytic approaches may not accurately account for the heterogeneity among the studies and may result in biased treatment effect estimates. This study investigates if the incorporation of PRECIS-2 classification of published trials can improve the estimation of overall intervention effects in meta-analysis.

methodsUsing data from 31 published trials of intervention aimed at reducing obesity in children, we evaluated the utility of incorporating PRECIS-2 ratings of published trials into meta-analysis of intervention effects in clinical trials. Specifically, we compared random-effects meta-analysis, stratified meta-analysis, random-effects meta-regression, and mixture random-effects meta-regression methods for estimating overall pooled intervention effects.

resultsOur analyses revealed that mixture meta-regression models that incorporate PRECIS-2 classification as covariate resulted in a larger pooled effect size (ES) estimate (ES = - 1.01, 95%CI = [- 1.52, - 0.43]) than conventional random-effects meta-analysis (ES = - 0.15, 95%CI = [- 0.23, - 0.08]).

conclusionsIn addition to the original intent of PRECIS-2 tool of aiding researchers in their choice of trial design, PRECIS-2 tool is useful for explaining between study variations in systematic review and meta-analysis of published trials. We recommend that researchers adopt mixture meta-regression methods when synthesizing evidence from explanatory and pragmatic trials.

Indexed as

Meta-Analysis as TopicPragmatic Clinical Trials as TopicResearch DesignHumansPediatric ObesityMeta-analysisObesity interventionsPRECIS-2Randomized controlled trialsSystematic review

Identifiers

PMID29370830
PMCPMC5785841

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.