TY - JOUR
KW - Cancer treatment
KW - Cancers and neoplasms
KW - Drug research and development
KW - Metaanalysis
KW - Research errors
KW - Research reporting guidelines
KW - Rodents
KW - Simulation and modeling
AU - Constance Holman
AU - Sophie K. Piper
AU - Ulrike Grittner
AU - Andreas Antonios Diamantaras
AU - Jonathan Kimmelman
AU - Bob Siegerink
AU - Ulrich Dirnagl
AB - Given small sample sizes, loss of animals in preclinical experiments can dramatically alter results. However, effects of attrition on distortion of results are unknown. We used a simulation study to analyze the effects of random and biased attrition. As expected, random loss of samples decreased statistical power, but biased removal, including that of outliers, dramatically increased probability of false positive results. Next, we performed a meta-analysis of animal reporting and attrition in stroke and cancer. Most papers did not adequately report attrition, and extrapolating from the results of the simulation data, we suggest that their effect sizes were likely overestimated.
BT - PLOS Biology
DA - Jan 4, 2016
DO - 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002331
IS - 1
LA - en
N2 - Given small sample sizes, loss of animals in preclinical experiments can dramatically alter results. However, effects of attrition on distortion of results are unknown. We used a simulation study to analyze the effects of random and biased attrition. As expected, random loss of samples decreased statistical power, but biased removal, including that of outliers, dramatically increased probability of false positive results. Next, we performed a meta-analysis of animal reporting and attrition in stroke and cancer. Most papers did not adequately report attrition, and extrapolating from the results of the simulation data, we suggest that their effect sizes were likely overestimated.
PY - 0
EP - e1002331
ST - Where Have All the Rodents Gone?
T2 - PLOS Biology
TI - Where Have All the Rodents Gone? The Effects of Attrition in Experimental Research on Cancer and Stroke
UR - https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002331
VL - 14
Y2 - 2024-04-16
SN - 1545-7885
ER -