PRIME-IPD SERIES Part 1. The PRIME-IPD tool promoted verification and standardization of study datasets retrieved for IPD meta-analysis

Omar Dewidar; Alison Riddle; Elizabeth Ghogomu; Alomgir Hossain; Paul Arora; Zulfiqar A Bhutta; Robert E Black; Simon Cousens; Michelle F Gaffey; Christine Mathew; Jessica Trawin; Peter Tugwell; Vivian Welch; George A Wells

doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.05.007

PRIME-IPD SERIES Part 1. The PRIME-IPD tool promoted verification and standardization of study datasets retrieved for IPD meta-analysis

J Clin Epidemiol. 2021 Aug:136:227-234. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2021.05.007. Epub 2021 May 24.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Bruyère Research Institute, University of Ottawa, 85 Primrose Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6M1, Canada; School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, 600 Peter Morand Crescent, Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 5Z3, Canada. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Bruyère Research Institute, University of Ottawa, 85 Primrose Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6M1, Canada; School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, 600 Peter Morand Crescent, Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 5Z3, Canada.
³ Bruyère Research Institute, University of Ottawa, 85 Primrose Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6M1, Canada.
⁴ School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, 600 Peter Morand Crescent, Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 5Z3, Canada; Department of Medicine (Cardiology), The University of Ottawa Heart Institute and University of Ottawa, 40 Ruskin Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1Y 4W7, Canada.
⁵ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, 155 College St Room 500, Toronto, Ontario M5T 3M7, Canada.
⁶ Centre for Global Child Health, Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Ave, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1X8, Canada; Institute for Global Health & Development, Aga Khan University, South-Central Asia, East Africa & United Kingdom, Karachi, Pakistan.
⁷ Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615N Wolfe St Suite E8545, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
⁸ Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT, UK.
⁹ Centre for Global Child Health, Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Ave, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1X8, Canada.
¹⁰ Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, 501 Smyth Rd, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8L6, Canada; Department of Medicine, University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, Roger Guindon Hall, 451 Smyth Rd #2044, Ottawa, Ontario, K1H 8M5, Canada; WHO Collaborating Centre for Knowledge Translation and Health Technology Assessment in Health Equity, Bruyère Research Institute, 85 Primrose Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6M1, Canada; Cardiovascular Research Methods Centre, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, 40 Ruskin St, Ottawa, Ontario, K1Y 4W7, Canada.
¹¹ Bruyère Research Institute, University of Ottawa, 85 Primrose Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6M1, Canada; School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, 600 Peter Morand Crescent, Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 5Z3, Canada; WHO Collaborating Centre for Knowledge Translation and Health Technology Assessment in Health Equity, Bruyère Research Institute, 85 Primrose Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6M1, Canada.
¹² School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, 600 Peter Morand Crescent, Ottawa, Ontario, K1G 5Z3, Canada; WHO Collaborating Centre for Knowledge Translation and Health Technology Assessment in Health Equity, Bruyère Research Institute, 85 Primrose Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, K1R 6M1, Canada; Cardiovascular Research Methods Centre, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, 40 Ruskin St, Ottawa, Ontario, K1Y 4W7, Canada.

Abstract

Objectives: We describe a systematic approach to preparing data in the conduct of Individual Participant Data (IPD) analysis.

Study design and setting: A guidance paper proposing methods for preparing individual participant data for meta-analysis from multiple study sources, developed by consultation of relevant guidance and experts in IPD. We present an example of how these steps were applied in checking data for our own IPD meta analysis (IPD-MA).

Results: We propose five steps of Processing, Replication, Imputation, Merging, and Evaluation to prepare individual participant data for meta-analysis (PRIME-IPD). Using our own IPD-MA as an exemplar, we found that this approach identified missing variables and potential inconsistencies in the data, facilitated the standardization of indicators across studies, confirmed that the correct data were received from investigators, and resulted in a single, verified dataset for IPD-MA.

Conclusion: The PRIME-IPD approach can assist researchers to systematically prepare, manage and conduct important quality checks on IPD from multiple studies for meta-analyses. Further testing of this framework in IPD-MA would be useful to refine these steps.

Keywords: Data Preparation; Data replication; Evidence Synthesis; Imputation; Individual participant data; Meta-analysis; Randomized Trials; Research methodology.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Data Collection / standards*
Data Collection / statistics & numerical data*
Data Interpretation, Statistical
Guidelines as Topic*
Humans
Medical Records / standards*
Medical Records / statistics & numerical data*
Reference Standards*
Reproducibility of Results*