| Ref ID | 88 |
| First Author | P. Williamson |
| Journal | STATISTICS IN MEDICINE |
| Year Of Publishing | 2005 |
| URL | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15580591/ |
| Keywords |
• Cochrane • Multiplicity • Statistical • General medical |
| Problem(s) |
• Poor consideration of publication bias • Multiplicity of outcomes and lack of pre-specification for outcome reporting |
| Article Type | Empirical |
| Article Subtype | Cross-sectional survey/Methodological systematic review |
| First Author Country | United Kingdom |
| Aim | To assess within-study selective reporting of outcomes, defined as the selection of a subset of the original variables recorded for inclusion in publication of trials from a cohort of meta-analyses on the Cochrane Library . |
| Level of Investigation | Descriptive |
| Summary of Findings | A cohort of 9 included Cochrane reviews that had been previously flagged as being potentially prone to publication bias were re-examined for within-study selective reporting. The pooled estimate (95 per cent CI) for mortality of −0:36 (−0:80; 0:08) suggested an opposite effect of treatment, but results were based on data from only five of the nine trials. Imputation of missing data, under the assumption of selective nonreporting, accounted for some of the asymmetry in the funnel plot. No conclusion changed as a result of this extreme sensitivity analysis, thus the meta-analyses of the primary outcomes appear to be robust to potential within-study selection bias. |
| Number of systematic reviews included | 9 |
| Number of eligible systematic reviews assessed | 9 |
| Treatment impacted | Yes |
| Treatment impacted description | |
| Interpretation impacted | No |
| Interpretation impacted description |