64th ISI World Statistics Congress - Ottawa, Canada

64th ISI World Statistics Congress - Ottawa, Canada

Why the relative risk should not be used in meta-analysis of clinical trials

Conference

64th ISI World Statistics Congress - Ottawa, Canada

Format: IPS Abstract

Keywords: meta-analysis, noncollapsibility, odds-ratio, risk-ratio

Session: IPS 94 - Advances in Research Synthesis in Healthcare Research

Tuesday 18 July 10 a.m. - noon (Canada/Eastern)

Abstract

This presentation will argue the following: a) the OR and RR measure different things and their numerical difference is only important if misinterpreted b) this potential misinterpretation is a trivial issue compared to the lack of portability of the RR c) examples will be given to reaffirm non-portability of the RR and demonstrate how misleading the results might be in contrast to the OR, which is independent of the baseline risk d) the concept of non-collapsibility for the OR should be expected in the presence of a non-confounding risk factor, and is not a bias nor is it "bad" e) the log link in regression models that generate RRs as well as the use of RRs in meta-analysis will be shown to be problematic using the same examples.