Table 2 Evaluation of CIMBAL along with complete-only meta-analysis approach and gold standard (oracle) approach using multiple metrics across different simulated data scenarios. The metrics MSE (mean squared error), rel. MSE (relative MSE compared to oracle meta-analysis approach), mean width of 95% CI, and type I error inflation factor at 5% significance level (ratio of type I error estimate to 0.05) are estimated using 2,500 independent replicate datasets for each scenario: (1) fewer cohorts or (2) equal number of cohorts or (3) more cohorts with no confounder information than with complete confounder information. Ideal rel. MSE value is 1 × and larger values indicate departure from oracle. Ideal type I error inflation value is 1; larger than 1 indicates inflation, smaller than 1 indicates conservativeness. The underlying data generative model assumes there is no exposure-outcome association (true β=0)

From: Meta-analysis under imbalance in measurement of confounders in cohort studies using only summary-level data