Capture-recapture method for assessing publication bias

Abstract

<p style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong><span style="color: black;">Background</span></strong><span style="color: black;">: Publication bias is an important factor that may result in selection bias and lead to overestimation of the intervention effect. Capture recapture method is considered as a potentially useful procedure for investigating and estimating publication bias. </span></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong><span style="color: black;">Methods</span></strong><span style="color: black;">: We conducted a systematic </span><span style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">review to estimate t</span><span style="color: black;">he duration of protection provided by hepatitis B vaccine by measuring the anamnestic immune response to booster doses of vaccine</span><span style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN"> and retrieved studies from three separate sources, including a) electronic databases, b) reference lists of the studies, and c) conference databases as well as contact with experts and manufacturers. Capture recapture and some conventional methods such as funnel plot, Begg test, Egger test, and trim and fill method were employed for assessing publication bias. </span></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong><span style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">Results</span></strong><span style="color: black; mso-ansi-language: EN;" lang="EN">: </span><span style="color: black;">Based on c</span>apture recapture method, completeness of the overall search results<span style="color: black;"> was 87.2% [95% CI: 84.6% to 89.0%] and </span>log-linear model suggested 5 [95% CI: 4.2 to 6.2] missing studies. The funnel <span style="color: black;">plot was asymmetric but Begg and Egger tests results were not statistically significant and trill and fill approach made no change in pooled effect. </span></span></span></p><p style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><strong><span style="color: black;">Conclusions</span></strong><span style="color: black;">: Capture recapture method may be a useful practical approach for estimating the number of missing studies which are not usually detected by search strategy, although assumptions of this method may limit its general application in systematic reviews. In addition, capture recapture method may be considered as an alternative approach for estimating the extent of publication bias based on overlapping information rather than mirror image of extreme values on funnel plot.</span></span></span></p>

Keywords

• Meta-Analysis
• Publication Bias
• Review Literature