Journal
STATISTICS IN MEDICINE
Volume 39, Issue 15, Pages 2115-2137Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/sim.8516
Keywords
effect modifier; individual participant data (IPD); meta-analysis; subgroup effect; treatment-covariate interaction
Categories
Funding
- Keele University
- TOP grant of the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw) [91215058]
- NIHR Doctoral Fellowship [DRF-2018-11-ST2-077]
- NIHR Health Technology Assessment [12/01]
- NIHR
- MRC [MC_UU_12023/21] Funding Source: UKRI
- National Institutes of Health Research (NIHR) [DRF-2018-11-ST2-077] Funding Source: National Institutes of Health Research (NIHR)
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Precision medicine research often searches for treatment-covariate interactions, which refers to when a treatment effect (eg, measured as a mean difference, odds ratio, hazard ratio) changes across values of a participant-level covariate (eg, age, gender, biomarker). Single trials do not usually have sufficient power to detect genuine treatment-covariate interactions, which motivate the sharing of individual participant data (IPD) from multiple trials for meta-analysis. Here, we provide statistical recommendations for conducting and planning an IPD meta-analysis of randomized trials to examine treatment-covariate interactions. For conduct, two-stage and one-stage statistical models are described, and we recommend: (i) interactions should be estimated directly, and not by calculating differences in meta-analysis results for subgroups; (ii) interaction estimates should be based solely on within-study information; (iii) continuous covariates and outcomes should be analyzed on their continuous scale; (iv) nonlinear relationships should be examined for continuous covariates, using a multivariate meta-analysis of the trend (eg, using restricted cubic spline functions); and (v) translation of interactions into clinical practice is nontrivial, requiring individualized treatment effect prediction. For planning, we describe first why the decision to initiate an IPD meta-analysis project should not be based on between-study heterogeneity in the overall treatment effect; and second, how to calculate the power of a potential IPD meta-analysis project in advance of IPD collection, conditional on characteristics (eg, number of participants, standard deviation of covariates) of the trials (potentially) promising their IPD. Real IPD meta-analysis projects are used for illustration throughout.
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