Skip to main content

Table 1 Renal Physiological Parameters from Low-Dose Dopamine Meta-Analysis 1 Day After Starting Therapy [7].

From: The ratio of means method as an alternative to mean differences for analyzing continuous outcome variables in meta-analysis: A simulation study

    

Effect Measure

Parameter

Number of Trials

Number of Patients

 

MD

SMD

RoM

Urine Output

33

1654

Estimate

--

0.49

1.24

   

95% CI

--

0.29 to 0.69

1.14 to 1.35

   

p-value

--

<0.001

<0.001

   

I 2

--

71%

77%

Serum Creatinine

32

1807

Estimate

-3.51

-0.28

0.96

   

95% CI

-6.71 to -0.23

-0.51 to -0.06

0.93 to 0.99

   

p-value

0.04

0.01

0.01

   

I 2

73%

79%

73%

Creatinine Clearance

22

1077

Estimate

--

0.10

1.06

   

95% CI

--

-0.02 to 0.22

1.01 to 1.11

   

p-value

--

0.10

0.02

   

I 2

--

0%

0%

  1. The pooled effect measure results are presented along with their 95% confidence intervals and null hypothesis p-values for each of the three renal physiological variables evaluated in the meta-analysis, urine output, serum creatinine, and creatinine clearance, 1 day after the start of therapy. The degree of heterogeneity, expressed using the I 2 statistic for each of the pooled effect measures for each of the variables is also shown. For urine output and creatinine clearance, MD could not be used because units differed across studies. In contrast, all serum creatinine values were expressed as or could be converted to identical units (μmol/L), allowing this variable to also be analyzed using MD.
  2. Abbreviations: CI – confidence interval, I 2I 2 heterogeneity statistic, MD – mean difference, RoM – ratio of means, SMD – standardized mean difference