Measuring Overall Heterogeneity in Meta-Analyses: Application to CSF Biomarker Studies in Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

The interpretations of statistical inferences from meta-analyses depend on the degree of heterogeneity in the meta-analyses. Several new indices of heterogeneity in meta-analyses are proposed, and assessed the variation/difference of these indices through a large simulation study. The proposed methods are applied to biomakers of Alzheimer’s disease.