English

metamedian: An R package for meta-analyzing studies reporting medians

Methodology 2024-05-31 v1 Computation

Abstract

When performing an aggregate data meta-analysis of a continuous outcome, researchers often come across primary studies that report the sample median of the outcome. However, standard meta-analytic methods typically cannot be directly applied in this setting. In recent years, there has been substantial development in statistical methods to incorporate primary studies reporting sample medians in meta-analysis, yet there are currently no comprehensive software tools implementing these methods. In this paper, we present the metamedian R package, a freely available and open-source software tool for meta-analyzing primary studies that report sample medians. We summarize the main features of the software and illustrate its application through real data examples involving risk factors for a severe course of COVID-19.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2302.14243,
  title  = {metamedian: An R package for meta-analyzing studies reporting medians},
  author = {Sean McGrath and XiaoFei Zhao and Omer Ozturk and Stephan Katzenschlager and Russell Steele and Andrea Benedetti},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2302.14243},
  year   = {2024}
}