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Table 3 Description of the Statistical Methods Group scientific meetings, special methods sessions, and plenaries

From: Meta-analysis and The Cochrane Collaboration: 20 years of the Cochrane Statistical Methods Group

Year

Event

Description of event

1993

Oxford Colloquium

Statistical Methods Working Group (later SMG) scientific meeting. Discussed the range of statistical methods that The Cochrane Collaboration could use in undertaking meta-analyses and noted a lack of consensus in appropriate methods.

1996

Oxford

1st Ad hoc meeting. Discussed an eclectic set of issues relating to the development of the MetaView software (later developed into RevMan) and various methodological issues.

1996

Oxford

2nd Ad hoc meeting. Convened to discuss issues relevant to the analysis of ordinal data.

1998

Oxford

3rd Ad hoc meeting. Discussed issues related to cluster randomised trials in systematic reviews.

2001

Lyon Colloquium

SMG scientific meeting. Discussion on fixed versus random effects meta-analysis and intention-to-treat analysis. Consensus decision made regarding heterogeneity: that a test for heterogeneity should not be used to decide between fixed and random effects models.

2002

Oxford Colloquium

SMG scientific meeting: Several methodological issues discussed: cross-over trials, combining studies with different designs and methods for dealing with heterogeneity.

2004

Edinburgh

4th Ad hoc meeting. Discussed issues relating to the quality assessment of trials.

2006

Melbourne Colloquium

Special methods session: “Assessing susceptibility to bias of included studies: new recommendations for Cochrane reviews”. First open meeting to introduce and discuss the proposed Risk of Bias tool (as was later named).

2008

Freiburg Colloquium

Satellite event to the Freiburg Colloquium: Joint meeting of the SMG and the UK Meta-analysis in Medicine Group. Four sessions on: meta-analysis of continuous data, various topics, addressing risk of bias, and a debate “When should meta-analyses be performed in Cochrane reviews?”

Special methods session “Some awkward statistical issues in Cochrane reviews”. Two topics “Subsets of studies in meta-analysis” and “Meta-analysis with multiple treatment groups”.

2009

Singapore Colloquium

Special methods session. Two parts: Part 1 “Exploring new approaches for dealing with bias and heterogeneity” and Part 2 “RevMan and beyond for meta-analysis”.

Joint scientific meeting of the SMG and the Bias Methods Group. Three presentations on the assessment and impact of outcome reporting bias on systematic reviews, searching for methods studies, and a decision tool for updating Cochrane reviews.

2011

Madrid Colloquium

SMG scientific meeting. Two topics, multivariate meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis, were presented and discussed.

2012

Auckland Colloquium

Methods plenary. Theme of plenary was “Beyond healthcare decisions: systematic reviews as a tool for informing future research and research methodology”.

2013

Québec Colloquium

Satellite event to the Québec City Colloquium: “Data, Outcomes, Uncertainty and Graphs: Advances and Limitations in Trials, Meta-Analysis, and Novelties”. Four sessions on: selective reporting, bias, statistical issues, and presentations considering the case for and against inclusion of funding source as a standard item in the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool.