AIDS FOR CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL META ANALYSIS

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A recent National Research Council report has underlined the need for developing and disseminating state-of-the-art statistical techniques for combining information from multiple sources, for use in health and other natural and social sciences. The approach known as "meta-analysis" is becoming increasingly relevant for clinical research and epidemiology because of requirements to obtain reliable quantitative estimates of relatively small risk factors and treatment effects. The goal of this project is to develop a new software tool for meta-analysis that incorporates the latest statistical techniques (including, for example, the hierarchical Bayesian models recommended by the NRC Report) along with graphical methods for user interaction, interpretation, and presentation. Phase I, based on a collaboration with the Statistics Department at Colorado State University, established key requirements for a capable and comprehensive meta-analysis tool, designed a framework and a set of innovative graphical and statistical techniques to meet the requirements and prototyped elements of the design for evaluation and critique. Phase II will be based on a broader collaboration with leading theoretical and applied researchers in meta-analysis, and will aim at creating a full- scale prototype for deployment and evaluation at a series of "beta sites". PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The proposed software to support meta- analysis of clinical and epidemiological studies has direct application to academic and Government biomedical research, and to clinical trials in the pharmaceutical industry. The founders of Belmont Research Inc. have extensive experience in creating and marketing software to support biomedical applications.