Help us to prioritise the most important questions in kidney transplantation
The Centre for Evidence in Transplantation are currently leading a project to identify and prioritise unanswered research questions in kidney transplantation to help guide future research. The Kidney Transplant Priorities Setting Partnership has identified 45 unanswered questions, submitted by patients, clinicians, donors and carers. We are now trying to prioritise these questions to see which […]
Read moreDeviation from intention-to-treat analysis alters treatment effect
A recent article in the BMJ by Abraha et al, using large amounts of data from RCTs, has shown that deviation from intention-to-treat analysis (ITT) can lead to apparently larger treatment effects. When compared to standard intention-to-treat analysis there was a significant difference in the apparent treatment effect. When a deviation from ITT was compared […]
Read moreKidney Transplant PSP – report of progress
As you may be aware, the Centre for Evidence in Transplantation is co-ordinating the James Lind Alliance Priorities Setting Partnership in Renal Transplantation. The process aims to bring together pateints, carers and heathcare professionals to identify and prioritise areas for future research in kidney transplantation. The second steering group meeting was held at the Royal […]
Read moreMeta-analysis in R: Part 2 – Binary data
In part 1, I discussed how to get set up for meta-analysis in R, by installing the necessary software and libraries. In this post, I will take the reader through the steps for performing meta-analysis of binary data in R.
Read moreMeta-analysis in R: Part 1 – Installing the software
When I am teaching about meta-analysis on the EVIT course, I often moan about the inflexibility of Cochrane’s Revman software and am asked what I use to perform my meta-analyses. My pechant for open-source software led me to use the R statistical environment. In this series of blog posts, that I will update over the […]
Read moreNew feature: Expert commentaries in the Transplant Library
From this month the Transplant Library includes invited commentaries by transplantation experts. The commentary includes a clinical impact rating and also indicates whether the trial is considered practice changing. The randomised controlled trial “De novo sirolimus and reduced-dose tacrolimus versus standard-dose tacrolimus after liver transplantation: the 2000-2003 phase II prospective randomized trial” by Asrani and […]
Read moreOrigins of Evidence Based Medicine
There was an interesting editorial by Richard Smith and Drummond Rennie in the BMJ recently. The editorial is based on two interviews of pioneers in this field by Richard Smith, the former editor of the BMJ. In the first oral history he interviews Iain Chalmers, Muir Gray and David Sackett. They said that authors from a […]
Read moreEvidence in Transplantation (EVIT course): Last few places
The deadline to register for the Evidence in Transplantation (EVIT) course has been extended and you can now apply for one of the last few places of this highly rated course. EVIT last call The EVIT course is organised in collaboration with ESOT and will run on 21 and 22 March 2014 at the Royal College […]
Read moreApply now for the Evidence in Transplantation Course 2014!
The deadline is approaching for the 2014 Evidence in Transplantation (EVIT) course, run by the CET and ESOT. Applications must be in by the 30th January 2014. The course will run on the 21st and 22nd March 2014 at the Royal College of Surgeons, London, UK. The two-day course is aimed at professionals from […]
Read moreTrial methodology – is it small-print?
As any regular reader of peer-reviewed journals will know, the most important section of any paper is the description of methods. Without the information in the methods section it is almost impossible to interpret the results of a paper and determine whether the author’s conclusions are justified. Indeed, it is often justifiable to bin a […]
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