Meta-analysis on continuous outcomes in minimal important difference units: an application with appropriate variance calculations

OBJECTIVE: To compare results from meta-analyses for mean differences in minimal important difference (MID) units (MD_MID), when MID is treated as a random variable vs. a constant. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Meta-analyses of published data. We calculated the variance of MD_MID as a random variable using the delta method and as a constant. We assessed performance under different assumptions. We compare meta-analysis results from data originally …