Three recent papers have provided sequential methods for meta‐analysis of two‐treatment randomized clinical trials. This paper provides an alternate approach that has three desirable features. First, when carried out prospectively (i.e., we only have the results up to the time of our current analysis), we do not require knowledge of the information fraction (the fraction of the total information that is available at each analysis). Second, the methods work even if the expected values of the effect sizes vary from study to study. Finally, our methods have easily interpretable metrics that make sense under changing effect sizes. Although the other published methods can be adapted to be “group sequential” (recommended), meaning that a set number and timing of looks are specified, rather than looking after every trial, ours can be used in both a continuous or group sequential manner. We provide an example on the role of probiotics in preventing necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

中文翻译：

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对临床试验进行序贯荟萃分析的 Pocock 方法。


最近的三篇论文提供了双治疗随机临床试验荟萃分析的序贯方法。本文提供了一种具有三个理想特征的替代方法。首先，当前瞻性地进行时（即，我们只有当前分析时的结果），我们不需要了解信息部分（每次分析中可用的总信息的部分）。其次，即使效果大小的预期值因研究而异，这些方法仍然有效。最后，我们的方法具有易于解释的指标，在​​变化的效应大小下有意义。尽管其他已发布的方法可以调整为“组顺序”（推荐），这意味着指定了一组观察次数和时间，而不是关注每次试验，但我们的方法可以以连续或组顺序的方式使用。我们提供了一个例子来说明益生菌在预防早产儿坏死性小肠结肠炎方面的作用。版权所有 © 2013 约翰·威利父子有限公司