lfkindex {metasens}

LFK Index Test for Asymmetry

Description

Implementation of the LFK index test proposed by Furuya-Kanamori et al. (2018) to evaluate bias in meta-analysis.

Usage

lfkindex(TE, seTE, data = NULL)

## S3 method for class 'lfkindex'
print(x, digits = 2, ...)

Arguments

TE

An object of class meta or estimated treatment effect in individual studies.

seTE

Standard error of estimated treatment effect (mandatory if TE not of class meta).

data

An optional data frame containing the study information.

x

An object of class lfkindex.

digits

Minimal number of significant digits, see print.default.

...

Additional arguments (ignored).

Value

An object of class "lfkindex" with corresponding print function. The object is a list containing the following components:

lfkindex

LFK index.

interpretation

Interpretation of value of LFK index.

abs.zscore

Absolute value of z-score.

N, MidRank, percentile, zscore

Quantities used to calculate LFK index.

TE, seTE

Estimated treatment effect, standard error.

version

Version of R package metasens used to create object.

Author(s)

Gerta Rücker [e-mail], Guido Schwarzer [e-mail]

References

Furuya-Kanamori L, Barendregt JJ, Doi SAR (2018): A new improved graphical and quantitative method for detecting bias in meta-analysis. International Journal of Evidence-Based Healthcare, 16, 195–203

See Also

doiplot, metabias, funnel.meta

Examples

# Example from Furuya-Kanamori et al. (2018)
#
pain <- data.frame(SMD = c(-4.270, -1.710, -0.580, -0.190, 0.000),
                   varSMD = c(0.158,  0.076,  0.018,  0.022, 0.040))

lfk.pain <- lfkindex(SMD, sqrt(varSMD), data = pain)
lfk.pain

doiplot(lfk.pain)