Evidence based Decision and Meta-Analysis with Applications in Cancer Research Studies

Authors

Shahjahan Khan, School of Agricultural, Computational and Environmental Sciences; Centre for Health Sciences Research; International Centre for Applied Climate Sciences; University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, AustraliaFollow
Suhail A R Doi, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaFollow
M Ashraf Memon, School of Agricultural, Computational and Environmental Sciences; Centre for Health Sciences Research; International Centre for Applied Climate Sciences; University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia\\ Sunnybank Obesity Centre & SEQS, Suite 9, 259 McCullough Street, Sunnybank, Queensland; Mayne Medical School, University of Queensland, Brisbane; Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, AustraliaFollow

Author Country (or Countries)

Australia

Abstract

In the age of evidence based decision making through a systematic review of the literature, statistical meta-analysis has been extensively used to synthesise published summary data on a particular topic of interest from a number of independent studies in order to make credible and scientifically valid conclusions. The main objective is to estimate the common effect size as a pooled statistic for any selected outcome variables from the relevant data. There are several issues concerning the quality and type of the published summary statistics and inherent heterogeneity among the estimates of the effect size across the studies. This paper covers several estimators of the common effect size and some of their major impacts in meta-analysis through redistribution of weights to the individual studies. Some examples from recent literature on cancer research studies are used to illustrate the alternative estimators and discuss their usefulness in analysing data from randomised controlled trials in medicine.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.18576/amis/100301

Recommended Citation

Khan, Shahjahan; A R Doi, Suhail; and Ashraf Memon, M (2016) "Evidence based Decision and Meta-Analysis with Applications in Cancer Research Studies," Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences: Vol. 10: Iss. 3, Article 1.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18576/amis/100301
Available at: https://digitalcommons.aaru.edu.jo/amis/vol10/iss3/1