Objectives: To describe how to use an innovative approach to addressing missing participant data for dichotomous outcomes in systematic reviews of randomized trials.

Description: The workshop will consist of the following:
1. A didactic presentation of methods being used by Cochrane and non-Cochrane systematic reviews for dealing with and judging risk of bias associated with missing participant data (5 min).
2. An interactive presentation of the proposed approach: for the primary analysis, we propose either a complete-case analysis or making plausible assumptions about the outcomes of participants with missing data. The sensitivity analyses may use relatively extreme assumptions about the outcomes of participants with missing data that vary in plausibility. More plausible assumptions draw on the outcome event rates within the trial or in all trials included in a meta-analysis. We will also discuss how to judge risk of bias associated with missing participant data using this approach (25 min).
3. A hands-on exercise will cover conducting primary and sensitivity analyses (using an Excel sheet), and judging the risk of bias. The participants will use their own laptops. They may bring their own data or use data provided by facilitators (40 min).
4. An open discussion of the advantages and limitations of the proposed approach (20 min).

Project funded by the Cochrane Methods Innovation Fund