TY - JOUR
AU - Schwarzer, Guido
AB - ObjectiveMeta-analysis is of fundamental importance to obtain an unbiased assessment of the available evidence. In general, the use of meta-analysis has been increasing over the last three decades with mental health as a major research topic. It is then essential to well understand its methodology and interpret its results. In this publication, we describe how to perform a meta-analysis with the freely available statistical software environment R, using a working example taken from the field of mental health.MethodsR package meta is used to conduct standard meta-analysis. Sensitivity analyses for missing binary outcome data and potential selection bias are conducted with R package metasens. All essential R commands are provided and clearly described to conduct and report analyses.ResultsThe working example considers a binary outcome: we show how to conduct a fixed effect and random effects meta-analysis and subgroup analysis, produce a forest and funnel plot and to test and adjust for funnel plot asymmetry. All these steps work similar for other outcome types.ConclusionsR represents a powerful and flexible tool to conduct meta-analyses. This publication gives a brief glimpse into the topic and provides directions to more advanced meta-analysis methods available in R.
TI - How to perform a meta-analysis with R: a practical tutorial
JF - BMJ Mental Health
DO - 10.1136/ebmental-2019-300117
DA - 2019-11-23
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/british-medical-journal/how-to-perform-a-meta-analysis-with-r-a-practical-tutorial-HimjUsjNcK
SP - 153
EP - 160
VL - 22
IS - 4
DP - DeepDyve
ER -