Title of article :
Mean Values after Treatment or Mean Difference?
Author/Authors :
Amani, Behnam Department of Health Sciences Education Development - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences - Tehran, Iran , Akbarzadeh, Arash Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences - Tehran, Iran , Amani, Bahman Department of Health Sciences Education Development - School of Public Health - Tehran University of Medical Sciences - Tehran, Iran
Abstract :
In a systematic review and meta-analysis Published in the Urology(1) entitled “Low-Intensity Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy for Erectile Dysfunction: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” by Libo and Guizhong in 2017, the authors in methods section state that “weighted mean difference (MD) was used for continuous variables in their meta-analysis”. While, the authors used the endpoint scores as the mean difference in each group regardless of the baseline scores and one study(2) that baseline used as mean difference
Based on statistical literature in meta-analysis, the “mean difference” is change average from baseline to endpoint. So, to calculate the mean difference, we should use endpoint minus baseline mean score(3).
In our understanding, , it seems that the result of Libo’s meta-analysis(1) should revise for the mean difference as mentioned above.
Keywords :
Mean Values , Treatment , Mean Difference , meta-analysis
Journal title :
Urology Journal