[R-meta] Rare dependent variable with correlation among effect sizes

Hi Arthur,

Just a small correction: vcov() should be vcalc().

But to your actual question: rma.glmm() doesn't handle that. Some options:

1) use rma.mv() with a measure like "AS" and use vcalc() to construct the V matrix.

2) go straight to lme4::glmer(). Except for the non-central hypergeometric model, rma.glmm() is in essence just a wrapper for lme4::glmer() (or GLMMadaptive / glmmTMB as alternatives).

Best,
Wolfgang

-----Original Message-----
From: R-sig-meta-analysis [mailto:r-sig-meta-analysis-bounces at r-project.org] On
Behalf Of Arthur Albuquerque via R-sig-meta-analysis
Sent: Monday, 06 March, 2023 21:17
To: R meta
Cc: Arthur Albuquerque
Subject: [R-meta] Rare dependent variable with correlation among effect sizes

Hi all,

Tl;dr: I want to meta-analyze studies with a rare dependent variable with
correlation among effect sizes.

I have four randomized controlled trials. Within each RCT, there is one ?control?
group and multiple (>3) ?experimental? groups. Thus, there is a shared control
group which induces correlation among the effect sizes within each RCT.

I am aware that constructing a variance-covariance matrix with vcov() then
fitting the model with rma.mv() is an appropriate solution (per topic 5 in
?Details? in ?vcov). Such approach requires one to first estimate effect sizes
with escalc().

However, I am dealing with RCTs with a rare dependent variable. In these cases,
using an exact likelihood (in this case, Binomial) is preferable. I believe
rma.mv() does not support such likelihood.

How can I fit such model with rma.glmm() considering?correlation among effect
sizes? Ideally, I?d like to fit a random effect model.

Best,

Arthur