I am working on a meta-analysis of observational studies (basically 39 retrospective papers on different surgical interventions for one condition). I've obtained different weighted proportions (random effects model) through MedCalc for both the full data set and the different subgroups.
So far I have only found information on meta-analyses for randomized controlled trials, which I cannot apply to my data since I lack the "control group" in my retrospective papers.
- What is the best statistic method and/or software to use for single-arm, uncontrolled, retrospective studies?
- How I can compare the different proportional mortality ratios of my subgroups?
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Best Answer
I personally use Comprehensive Meta-Analysis, but if you can calculate the SE for each study then you could use RevMan.
Below I put the results for four fictional studies grouped into two groups:
Groups Effect size and 95% interval Test of null (2-Tail) Heterogeneity Tau-squared Tau-squared Tau-squared Tau-squared Group Number Studies Point estimate Lower limit Upper limit Z-value P-value Q-value df (Q) P-value I-squared Tau Squared Standard Error Variance Tau Fixed effect analysis G1 2 7.03759108414197E-02 0.017603046885197 0.242332278757674 -3.51044333533216 4.47360144140374E-04 0.258038705280314 1 0.611470803514087 0 0 1.52999712888317 2.34089121439075 0 G2 2 2.88585870247873E-02 7.22732614865208E-03 0.10817723861972 -4.89941436298139 9.61227347051619E-07 4.26059028518016E-02 1 0.83646911862334 0 0 1.45672749793515 2.12205500324041 0 Total within 0.300644608132116 2 0.860430611444899 Total between 0.828447690689994 1 0.362721779796614 Overall 4 4.47962294435528E-02 1.68510891696442E-02 0.113723780117822 -5.95810589198247 2.55178167485326E-09 1.12909229882211 3 0.770056131706131 0 0 0.861629557762928 0.742405494810739 0 Mixed effects analysis Mixed effects analysis Mixed effects analysis Mixed effects analysis Mixed effects analysis Mixed effects analysis Mixed effects analysis Mixed effects analysis Mixed effects analysis G1 2 7.03759108414197E-02 0.017603046885197 0.242332278757674 -3.51044333533216 4.47360144140374E-04 G2 2 2.88585870247873E-02 7.22732614865208E-03 0.10817723861972 -4.89941436298139 9.61227347051619E-07 Total within Total between 0.828447690689994 1 0.362721779796614 Overall 4 4.47962294435528E-02 1.68510891696442E-02 0.113723780117822 -5.95810589198247 2.55178167485326E-09