Centre for Paediatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics - UCL Institue of
Child Health
Departmental Seminar
Wednesday 7th June, 2006, 2pm, Room B, Wellcome Trust Building, ICH
Pulling the strands together: developments in the systematic review of
genetic association studies
Dr Julian Higgins
MRC Biostatistics Unit and Public Health Genetics Unit, Cambridge
ABSTRACT
Sound research, clinical practice and policy requires that decisions are
informed by reliable
existing evidence.Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are a key tool in
providing this
evidence. In the area of human genome epidemiology, the Human Genome
Epidemiology Network (HuGENet) is
promoting the systematic review of studies of association between gene
variants and common diseases,
of prevalence of gene variants and of interactions among genes and between
genetic and environmental factors.
I will outline the work of HuGENet, including the creation of a network of
consortia of investigators.
I will discuss some of the methodological challenges faced in trying to
review published evidence.
Notable among these is the risk of reporting biases, in that only the most
striking findings
might be available to the meta-analyst. I will describe some methodological
developments that enable
more comprehensive syntheses of information.
Further information:
http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/ich/academicunits/Paediatric_Epidemiology_and_Biostatistics/NewsandEvents
http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/gosh_families/coming_to_gosh/get_here_map.html
_______________________
Dr Mario Cortina Borja
Senior Lecturer in Statistics
[log in to unmask] Phone +44(0)20 7905 2113 Fax +44(0)20 7905 2381
Paed. Epid. & Biostats, Institute of Child Health, UCL, London WC1N 1EH, UK
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