Issues in the meta-analysis of cluster randomized trials

Meta‐analyses involving the synthesis of evidence from cluster randomization trials are being increasingly reported. These analyses raise challenging methodologic issues beyond those raised by meta‐analyses which include only individually randomized trials. In this paper we review and comment on a s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Statistics in medicine 2002-10, Vol.21 (19), p.2971-2980
Main Authors: Donner, Allan, Klar, Neil
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Cluster Analysis
clustering
community trials
correlated binary data
Data Interpretation, Statistical
Humans
intraclass correlation
Medical sciences
Meta-Analysis as Topic
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic - methods
Research Design
Sample Size
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Summary:Meta‐analyses involving the synthesis of evidence from cluster randomization trials are being increasingly reported. These analyses raise challenging methodologic issues beyond those raised by meta‐analyses which include only individually randomized trials. In this paper we review and comment on a selected number of these issues, including problems of study heterogeneity, difficulties in estimating design effects from individual trials and the choice of statistical methods. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:0277-6715
1097-0258
DOI:10.1002/sim.1301