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- Title
A systematic review of quantitative bias analysis applied to epidemiological research.
- Authors
Petersen, Julie M; Ranker, Lynsie R; Barnard-Mayers, Ruby; MacLehose, Richard F; Fox, Matthew P
- Abstract
<bold>Background: </bold>Quantitative bias analysis (QBA) measures study errors in terms of direction, magnitude and uncertainty. This systematic review aimed to describe how QBA has been applied in epidemiological research in 2006-19.<bold>Methods: </bold>We searched PubMed for English peer-reviewed studies applying QBA to real-data applications. We also included studies citing selected sources or which were identified in a previous QBA review in pharmacoepidemiology. For each study, we extracted the rationale, methodology, bias-adjusted results and interpretation and assessed factors associated with reproducibility.<bold>Results: </bold>Of the 238 studies, the majority were embedded within papers whose main inferences were drawn from conventional approaches as secondary (sensitivity) analyses to quantity-specific biases (52%) or to assess the extent of bias required to shift the point estimate to the null (25%); 10% were standalone papers. The most common approach was probabilistic (57%). Misclassification was modelled in 57%, uncontrolled confounder(s) in 40% and selection bias in 17%. Most did not consider multiple biases or correlations between errors. When specified, bias parameters came from the literature (48%) more often than internal validation studies (29%). The majority (60%) of analyses resulted in >10% change from the conventional point estimate; however, most investigators (63%) did not alter their original interpretation. Degree of reproducibility related to inclusion of code, formulas, sensitivity analyses and supplementary materials, as well as the QBA rationale.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>QBA applications were rare though increased over time. Future investigators should reference good practices and include details to promote transparency and to serve as a reference for other researchers.
- Subjects
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL research; QUANTITATIVE research; PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY; SENSITIVITY analysis; MATERIALS analysis; META-analysis; RESEARCH evaluation; SYSTEMATIC reviews; RESEARCH bias
- Publication
International Journal of Epidemiology, 2021, Vol 50, Issue 5, p1708
- ISSN
0300-5771
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1093/ije/dyab061