Systematic reviews of prognostic studies 3: meta-analytical approaches in systematic reviews of prognostic studies

Article type
Year
Authors
Debray T1, Moons C2, Riley R3, Altman D4, Williams K5, Woolfenden S6, Hayden J7, Hooft L8
1Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care
2UMC Utrecht, Julius Center
3Keele University, UK
4University of Oxford, UK
5University of Melbourne, Australia
6Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, Australia
7Dalhousie University, Canada
8Cochrane Netherlands, Netherlands
Abstract
Objectives: To introduce participants to statistical methods for meta-analysis of the accuracy of a specific prediction model and of the added value of a specific predictor to an existing model. We discuss opportunities/challenges of the statistical methods and of common software packages.

Description: Prediction models are commonly developed and validated for predicting the presence (diagnostic) or future occurrence (prognostic) of a particular outcome. Prediction models have become abundant in the literature. Many models have been validated in numerous different studies/publications. Also, numerous studies investigate the added value of a certain predictor/biomarker to a specific existing prediction model. In both situations, aggregating such evidence is important for making inferences on the (added) predictive performance of a specific model or predictor/marker. Meta-analytical approaches for both situations have recently been developed.

In this workshop we illustrate these statistical approaches and how to combine – quantitatively - results from published studies on the predictive accuracy of a specific model or added predictive accuracy of a specific predictor. We illustrate this with various empirical examples.