P C Lambert

..Survival from breast cancer is lower in the UK than in some other European countries. We compared survival in England and Norway by age and time from diagnosis...

..This has led to the exclusion of older age groups in population-based cancer studies using cure models...

..A simulation study was conducted to assess the performance of each method in a number of different scenarios...

..We illustrate the approach using an example of men diagnosed with prostate cancer in England and Wales showing the differences in net and crude survival for different ages...

..The reasons for these impressive increases in patient survival are complex, but are highly likely to be strongly related to many improvements in cancer care over this same time period...

..The models estimate the interrelationships between the four cost components and survival, and thus enable a predictive distribution for each missing cost item to be obtained...

..It is argued, as most lung cancer patients are smokers and therefore carry a higher risk of smoking-related mortalities, that they are not comparable to a population where the majority are likely to be non-smokers...

..To compare meta-analysis of summary study level data with the equivalent individual patient data (IPD) analysis when interest lies in identification of binary patient characteristics related to treatment efficacy...

..British Journal of Cancer (2003) 89, 74-76. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6600976 www.bjcancer.com..

..We compare the estimates of relative survival and the cure fraction between the 2 types of model and also investigate the importance of modeling the ancillary parameters in the selected parametric distribution for both types of model...

..To assess the effectiveness of feedback on the number of pathology tests ordered by general practices...

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..Relative survival, the ratio of the observed and the expected survival rates, is applied routinely in cancer studies and may improve on current methods for assessment of survival in CHD...

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..We use statistical models to further develop the method of period analysis, providing more up-to-date estimates of survival and the ability to explore differences in survival by covariates and adjust for case mix...

..To quantify the effectiveness of pharmacological and lifestyle interventions to prevent or delay type 2 diabetes in people with impaired glucose tolerance...

..To obtain predicted costs on the original cost scale (rather than the log-cost scale) two different retransformation factors were applied. All analyses were carried out using Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation methods...

..This raises issues regarding the appropriateness of the use of random effect models when designing and drawing inferences across a series of studies...

..The potential benefits and harms of a treatment policy may differ between individuals. If these benefits and harms are not evaluated distinctly, and in a quantitative framework, transparency can be lost in the decision-making process...

..The choice of 'vague' prior distribution can lead to a marked variation in results, particularly in small studies. Sensitivity to the choice of prior distribution should always be assessed...

..All models presented in this paper can be estimated within a generalized linear models framework and thus can be implemented using standard software...

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..However, under some circumstances the prospective likelihood has been shown to produce identical results and it is usually preferred for its simplicity. In our meta-analyses the two likelihoods give very similar results...

..In addition, the Bayesian models provide an intuitive and simple way to investigate the within-subject variance components...

..Dissemination bias, in how and what outcomes are reported or published, may be causing this incompleteness. This article illustrates these problems and presents possible sensitivity analyses to allow the most reliable conclusions...

..Bivariate meta-regression and further research priorities are also discussed...

..The limitations of the calibration method demonstrate the need to increase agreement between survey and reference measures by improving lay interviews and their diagnostic algorithms...

..INTERPRETATION: There is no clear benefit of a short course of parent-initiated oral prednisolone for viral wheeze in children aged 1-5 years even in those with above-average eosinophil priming...

..A multivariate random-effects meta-analysis must incorporate and estimate the between-study correlation (rhoB)...

..We studied the impact of this problem and the ability of alternative methods to overcome it. We also investigated different study designs and estimated the statistical power of the BSAC Resistance Surveillance Programmes...

..To compare the performance of different meta-analysis methods for pooling odds ratios when applied to sparse event data with emphasis on the use of continuity corrections...

..The authors suggest that the methods presented here represent a general framework for the analysis of economic data collected from different locations...

..Mortality among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals has decreased dramatically in countries with good access to treatment and may now be close to mortality in the general uninfected population...

..To assess the effect of an NHS walk-in centre on local primary and emergency healthcare services...

..Extension to multiple correlated outcomes is also considered. Ten IPD trials in hypertension, with blood pressure the continuous outcome of interest, are used to assess the models and identify the benefits of utilizing AD alongside IPD...