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Heterogeneity Issues In The Meta-Analysis Of Cluster Randomization Trials., Shun Fu Chen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

An increasing number of systematic reviews summarize results from cluster randomization trials. Applying existing meta-analysis methods to such trials is problematic because responses of subjects within clusters are likely correlated. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate heterogeneity in the context of fixed effects models providing guidance for conducting a meta-analysis of such trials. The approaches include the adjusted Q statistic, adjusted heterogeneity variance estimators and their corresponding confidence intervals and adjusted measures of heterogeneity and their corresponding confidence intervals. Attention is limited to meta-analyses of completely randomized trials having a binary outcome. An analytic expression for power of …