Performing a meta-analysis when study-level standard deviations are missing

Oregon Convention Center 

People with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction often experience a reduced or poor quality of life (QOL). Regular exercise therapy potentially may improve their QOL. To date, 6 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have evaluated this hypothesis; however, all 6 of them had small to moderate sample sizes. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis of the 6 RCTs with relevant data. A meta-analysis requires each trial provide an estimated treatment effect and an estimated standard deviation (SD) for that treatment effect. Six of the RCTs provided a treatment effect estimate, but 4 of the RCTs did not provide a SD. We discuss how to impute an SD when it is missing. We also discuss when it is reasonable to use a fixed effects meta-analysis as opposed to a random effects meta-analysis and why a random effects meta-analysis may sometimes lead to a non-applicable conclusion. Finally, we make recommendations for reporting study-level data to improve future meta-analyses.

Meta-analysis

missing standard deviations

imputation

heart failure 

Biopharmaceutical Section