UT Southwestern Medical Center
Meta-analysis, or the statistical method used to combine results from two or more separate studies, provides the ability to answer important clinical questions. Clinical trial data are generated using rigorous methods and associated with a high level of evidence for medical decision-making. Increasing accessibility to clinical trial data creates unique opportunities to investigate important clinical questions with high quality data that may have been beyond the original intention of the individual study. Two key methodological domains for conducting meta-analysis include data harmonization and the statistical methods utilized for conducting meta-analyses.
The objective of this talk is to present the importance and standards for data harmonization, review the main approaches to meta-analysis methods and their application to a meta-analysis of clinical trials in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The illustration includes individual participant level data from 17 phase III clinical trials of disease-modifying therapies for MS investigating the association of comorbidities and clinical and imaging MS outcomes.
