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Statistical flaws in design and analysis of fertility treatment studies on cryopreservation raise doubts on the conclusions

Decisions about pharmacotherapy are being taken by medical doctors and authorities based on comparative studies on the use of medications. In studies on fertility treatments in particular, the methodological quality is of utmost importance in the application of evidence-based medicine and systematic...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M., Nijs, M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Universa Press 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3987464/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24753877
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author van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M.
Nijs, M.
author_facet van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M.
Nijs, M.
author_sort van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M.
collection PubMed
description Decisions about pharmacotherapy are being taken by medical doctors and authorities based on comparative studies on the use of medications. In studies on fertility treatments in particular, the methodological quality is of utmost importance in the application of evidence-based medicine and systematic reviews. Nevertheless, flaws and omissions appear quite regularly in these types of studies. Current study aims to present an overview of some of the typical statistical flaws, illustrated by a number of example studies which have been published in peer reviewed journals. Based on an investigation of eleven studies at random selected on fertility treatments with cryopreservation, it appeared that the methodological quality of these studies often did not fulfil the required statistical criteria. The following statistical flaws were identified: flaws in study design, patient selection, and units of analysis or in the definition of the primary endpoints. Other errors could be found in p-value and power calculations or in critical p-value definitions. Proper interpretation of the results and/or use of these study results in a meta analysis should therefore be conducted with care.
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spelling pubmed-39874642014-04-21 Statistical flaws in design and analysis of fertility treatment studies on cryopreservation raise doubts on the conclusions van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M. Nijs, M. Facts Views Vis Obgyn Original Paper Decisions about pharmacotherapy are being taken by medical doctors and authorities based on comparative studies on the use of medications. In studies on fertility treatments in particular, the methodological quality is of utmost importance in the application of evidence-based medicine and systematic reviews. Nevertheless, flaws and omissions appear quite regularly in these types of studies. Current study aims to present an overview of some of the typical statistical flaws, illustrated by a number of example studies which have been published in peer reviewed journals. Based on an investigation of eleven studies at random selected on fertility treatments with cryopreservation, it appeared that the methodological quality of these studies often did not fulfil the required statistical criteria. The following statistical flaws were identified: flaws in study design, patient selection, and units of analysis or in the definition of the primary endpoints. Other errors could be found in p-value and power calculations or in critical p-value definitions. Proper interpretation of the results and/or use of these study results in a meta analysis should therefore be conducted with care. Universa Press 2011 /pmc/articles/PMC3987464/ /pubmed/24753877 Text en Copyright: © 2011 Facts, Views & Vision http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Paper
van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M.
Nijs, M.
Statistical flaws in design and analysis of fertility treatment studies on cryopreservation raise doubts on the conclusions
title Statistical flaws in design and analysis of fertility treatment studies on cryopreservation raise doubts on the conclusions
title_full Statistical flaws in design and analysis of fertility treatment studies on cryopreservation raise doubts on the conclusions
title_fullStr Statistical flaws in design and analysis of fertility treatment studies on cryopreservation raise doubts on the conclusions
title_full_unstemmed Statistical flaws in design and analysis of fertility treatment studies on cryopreservation raise doubts on the conclusions
title_short Statistical flaws in design and analysis of fertility treatment studies on cryopreservation raise doubts on the conclusions
title_sort statistical flaws in design and analysis of fertility treatment studies on cryopreservation raise doubts on the conclusions
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3987464/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24753877
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