Should the fragility index be routinely reported for systematic reviews?

Statistical significance can be very fragile. Given the strength of the comprehensiveness of systematic reviews, the robustness of the statistical meta-analyses is of substantial importance to those using them as the evidence basis for practice and policy. The clinical importance of the magnitude of the effect size and its statistical significance are most commonly used to assess this. In this issue Atal et  al. add another- the fragility index. This is defined as the extent to which the statistical significance of meta-analyses can be changed (from statistically significant to non-significant, or vice versa) after modifying the event status of patients in specific arms of specific trials.
Source: Journal of Clinical Epidemiology - Category: Epidemiology Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research