Abstract
Various methods are available to help users assess whether selective non-publication of studies or selective non-reporting of study results has occurred, but not its impact on a meta-analysis. This limitation of existing methods leaves users to decide their own approach for judging the risk of bias in a meta-analysis result. In this paper, Page and colleagues describe the ROB-ME (risk of bias due to missing evidence) tool, a structured approach for assessing the risk of bias that arises when entire studies, or particular results within studies, are missing from a meta-analysis because of the P value, magnitude, or direction of the study results. The tool is anticipated to help authors and users of systematic reviews identify meta-analyses at high risk of bias and interpret results appropriately.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e076754 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | BMJ |
Volume | 383 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 20 Nov 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:MJP was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Early Career Fellowship (1088535) and an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DE200101618) during the conduct of this research. JACS is supported by the NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre and Health Data Research UK South-West and is a member of the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol. TL was supported by grant UG1 EY020522 from the National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health. JEM is supported by an Australian NHMRC Investigator Grant (GNT2009612). JPTH is a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) senior investigator (NF-SI-0617-10145), is supported by the NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre and NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West (ARC West) at University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, and is a member of the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol. The funders had no role in considering the study design or in the collection, analysis, interpretation of data, writing of the report, or decision to submit the article for publication.
Keywords
- Humans
- Systematic Reviews as Topic
- Bias
- Research Design