ArticleResearch synthesis methods2020
The median and the mode as robust meta-analysis estimators in the presence of small-study effects and outliers.
Article in Research synthesis methods, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Comparison of 3-factor versus 4-factor prothrombin complex concentrate for emergent warfarin reversal: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC emergency medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Stage 2 Registered Report: Anomalous perception in a Ganzfeld condition - A meta-analysis of more than 40 years investigation.F1000Research · 2021Pooled it
- Stage 1 Registered Report: Anomalous perception in a Ganzfeld condition - A meta-analysis of more than 40 years investigation.F1000Research · 2020Pooled it
- Automated feature learning and survival prognostication in grade 4 glioma using supervised machine learning models.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2025Article
- Predicting hospital admissions, ICU utilization, and prolonged length of stay among febrile pediatric emergency department patients using incomplete and imbalanced electronic health record (EHR) data strategies.International journal of medical informatics · 2025Article
- Sensitivity analysis with iterative outlier detection for systematic reviews and meta-analyses.Statistics in medicine · 2024Article
- Predictors contributing to the estimation of pulmonary tuberculosis among adults in a resource-limited setting: A systematic review of diagnostic predictions.SAGE open medicine · 2024Review
- The effect of exposure to radiofrequency fields on cancer risk in the general and working population: A protocol for a systematic review of human observational studies.Environment international · 2021Article
- Screening for intimate partner violence in healthcare settings: An implementation-oriented systematic review.Implementation research and practice · 2021Article
- The median and the mode as robust meta-analysis estimators in the presence of small-study effects and outliers.Research synthesis methods · 2020Article
- Meta-analysis and Mendelian randomization: A review.Research synthesis methods · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Meta-analyses based on systematic literature reviews are commonly used to obtain a quantitative summary of the available evidence on a given topic. However, the reliability of any meta-analysis is constrained by that of its constituent studies. One major limitation is the possibility of small-study effects, when estimates from smaller and larger studies differ systematically. Small-study effects may result from reporting biases (ie, publication bias), from inadequacies of the included studies that are related to study size, or from reasons unrelated to bias. We propose two estimators based on the median and mode to increase the reliability of findings in a meta-analysis by mitigating the influence of small-study effects. By re-examining data from published meta-analyses and by conducting a simulation study, we show that these estimators offer robustness to a range of plausible bias mechanisms, without making explicit modelling assumptions. They are also robust to outlying studies without explicitly removing such studies from the analysis. When meta-analyses are suspected to be at risk of bias because of small-study effects, we recommend reporting the mean, median and modal pooled estimates.
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Registered trials
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