Dear all, The next seminar in our series of statistics talks for people interested in quantitative methods in biology and medicine will take place on Thursday 2 April 2015 at 11h00, in the seminar room 143, at the floor -1 of the building Biopôle 2 (Route de la Corniche 10, 1010 Lausanne, M2 station: Vennes). The speaker will be Prof. Rafael Perera (Director Medical Statistics, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, Oxford University). ****************************************** Title: Using Meta-analysis to estimate the parameters to model different Monitoring Regimes Abstract: Monitoring regimes - what to measure, when to measure and what actions to take based on the observed measurements - are an integral part of the Management of many health care conditions (e.g. type II diabetes, high cardiovascular risk, etc). Nevertheless, due to the multiple choices available in terms of measures, frequencies and actions, the evaluation of different regimes is unlikely to be carried out using an RCT. Instead, modelling different strategies is seen as a more practical approach. However, any model is heavily dependent on the assumptions behind it, in particular the estimates of the parameters used in the models. Meta-analysis is generally seen as the best alternative for generating precise data - particularly around effect estimates. Therefore these methods are seen as the natural choice for estimating parameters for Monitoring strategy models. In this talk I will present an example of how meta-analysis was used to estimate parameters of the association between lipid measures and the outcomes of interest as well as the comparative efficacy of statins for the reduction of different lipid measures. Several issues remain open, particularly in relation to prediction/prognosis. ****************************************** Hope to see you there! Valentin (for the organizers: Jérôme Goudet, Valentin Rousson, Frédéric Schütz) ---------------------------------------------------- Valentin Rousson Division Biostatistique et méthodes quantitatives Institut Universitaire de Médecine Sociale et Préventive Centre Hospitalier Universitaire et Université de Lausanne Biopôle 2 Route de la Corniche 10 CH-1010 Lausanne Tél : ++41 (021) 314 73 28 Email: Valentin.Rousson@chuv.chmailto:Valentin.Rousson@chuv.ch