Individual participant data (also known as individual patient data, often abbreviated IPD) is raw data from individual participants, and is often used in the context of
meta-analysis
Meta-analysis is a method of synthesis of quantitative data from multiple independent studies addressing a common research question. An important part of this method involves computing a combined effect size across all of the studies. As such, th ...
.
The
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has stated that sharing of deidentified individual participant data is an ethical obligation.
IPD meta-analysis
In an IPD meta-analysis, patient-level data from multiple studies or settings are combined to address a certain research question. IPD meta-analyses tend to be common for large-scale and international projects, and they are less limited than aggregate data (AD) meta-analyses in terms of the availability and quality of data they can use. Due to the high level of precision and consistency this approach allows for (which in turn makes it easier for researchers to minimize
heterogeneity
Homogeneity and heterogeneity are concepts relating to the uniformity of a substance, process or image. A homogeneous feature is uniform in composition or character (i.e., color, shape, size, weight, height, distribution, texture, language, i ...
), it is considered the gold standard of evidence synthesis.
Common aims for an IPD meta-analysis are
* to evaluate the safety or efficacy of medical interventions
* to identify modifiers of treatment effect
* to evaluate the accuracy of diagnostic tests
* to evaluate the association of prognostic markers
* to develop multivariable prediction models (rules)
* to evaluate the predictive performance of prognostic models
Over the past few decades, meta-analyses conducted with IPD (also known as IPD meta-analyses) have become increasingly popular.
References
External links
Individual participant data meta-analysis informationat the
Cochrane website
Meta-analysis
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