Meta-analysis of failure-time Data with Adjustment for Covariates

Maria G.M. Hunink and John B. Wong

Medical Decision Making, 1994, vol. 14, issue 1, 59-70

Abstract: The objective of this study was to present and illustrate a technique for combining failure- time data from various sources, adjusting for differences in case-mix among studies. Based on the proportional-hazards model and the actuarial life-table approach, the method used assumes that the variation across studies is in part due to heterogeneity of the case-mix and adjusts for the case-mix before pooling results. As an example, the technique is applied to life-table data from six selected papers reporting patency of affected arteries following femoropopliteal angioplasty. Published 4- and 5-year patency results ranged from 25% to 58%, with a pooled five-year cumulative patency rate (without adjustment for case-mix) of 45% (±2%). The populations in these studies, however, differed markedly in the prevalence of factors with prognostic value: type of lesion and distal runoff vessels. After adjustment for these differences in case-mix, the pooled five-year patency rates ranged from 60% (±2%) for patients with stenotic lesions and good runoff to 24% (±9%) for those with occlusion and poor runoff. The authors conclude that pooling studies without considering the effect of case-mix yields an average result with inappropriately narrow confidence intervals that does not reflect the variability across subgroups. The presented technique provides a method for combining failure-time data, adjusting for case-mix. Key words: meta-analysis; failure-time data; transluminal angioplasty; femoral artery; popliteal artery. (Med Decis Making 1994;14: 59-70)

Date: 1994
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0272989X9401400108 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:medema:v:14:y:1994:i:1:p:59-70

DOI: 10.1177/0272989X9401400108

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Medical Decision Making
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().