(Meta-analysis using the statistical software Stata and R (2020/2021)

Course code
4S010034
Name of lecturer
Giuseppe Verlato
Coordinator
Giuseppe Verlato
Number of ECTS credits allocated
1.5
Academic sector
NN - -
Language of instruction
Italian
Period
not yet allocated

Learning outcomes

1. To enable PhD students to read, interpret and critically analyze meta-analyses published in current scientific literature.
2. To enable PhD students to perform simple meta-analyses using statistical softwares Stata or R.

Syllabus

Systematic review and meta-analysis. Meta-analysis at the apex of the pyramid of evidence.
Assessment of the quality of observational studies by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS score) and randomized controlled trials by the Jadad score.
Evaluation of heterogeneity between studies by the heterogeneity test and the I-squared statistic. Fixed and random effect meta-analysis.
Forest plot to summarize meta-analysis results.
Funnel plot to highlight small series effect or publication bias.
Meta-analysis of ROC curves to evaluate diagnostic tools.

Reference books
Author Title Publisher Year ISBN Note
Borenstein M, Hedges LV, Higgins JPT, Rothstein HR. Introduction to Meta-analysis. Wiley 2009

Assessment methods and criteria

The exam will be written and based on simple multiple choice questions.

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