A new tool to assess Clinical Diversity In Meta-analyses (CDIM) of interventions
- PMID: 33561529
- DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.01.023
A new tool to assess Clinical Diversity In Meta-analyses (CDIM) of interventions
Abstract
Objective: To develop and validate Clinical Diversity In Meta-analyses (CDIM), a new tool for assessing clinical diversity between trials in meta-analyses of interventions.
Study design and setting: The development of CDIM was based on consensus work informed by empirical literature and expertise. We drafted the CDIM tool, refined it, and validated CDIM for interrater scale reliability and agreement in three groups.
Results: CDIM measures clinical diversity on a scale that includes four domains with 11 items overall: setting (time of conduct/country development status/units type); population (age, sex, patient inclusion criteria/baseline disease severity, comorbidities); interventions (intervention intensity/strength/duration of intervention, timing, control intervention, cointerventions); and outcome (definition of outcome, timing of outcome assessment). The CDIM is completed in two steps: first two authors independently assess clinical diversity in the four domains. Second, after agreeing upon scores of individual items a consensus score is achieved. Interrater scale reliability and agreement ranged from moderate to almost perfect depending on the type of raters.
Conclusion: CDIM is the first tool developed for assessing clinical diversity in meta-analyses of interventions. We found CDIM to be a reliable tool for assessing clinical diversity among trials in meta-analysis.
Keywords: Diversity; Evidence; Heterogeneity; Meta-analysis; Quality; Systematic review; Tool.
Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Comment in
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Should We Formalise the Assessment of Clinical Heterogeneity /Diversity In Systematic Reviews.J Clin Epidemiol. 2021 Jul;135:A4-A5. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.05.015. J Clin Epidemiol. 2021. PMID: 34325818 No abstract available.
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Response to "Should We Formalise the Assessment of Clinical Heterogeneity/Diversity In Systematic Reviews" - clarifications of the use of the CDIM tool to assess clinical heterogeneity/diversity in meta-analyses.J Clin Epidemiol. 2022 Jan;141:211. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.09.025. Epub 2021 Sep 20. J Clin Epidemiol. 2022. PMID: 34551319 No abstract available.
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