Pooling Odds Ratio of different age categories for a Meta-Analysis

[Gianfranco Di Gennaro]

I apologize if this is a question not strictly related to the use of STATA. If I didn't have an answer I would understand.

I am doing a meta-analysis of Odds Ratio to estimate the role of presumed risk factors of a pathology.

Regarding age,

I find odds ratios by categories in the literature.

For example:

<35 yrs, OR: 1.25 (95% CI: 0.98-1.36)
26-55 yrs, OR: 1.44 (95% CI: 1.34-1.54)
>55 yrs, OR: 2.02 (95% CI: 1.90-2.14)

Different papers show different age categories.

How can I pool the Odds Ratios of different age categories, in order to obtain a single Odds Ratio per paper in order to be able to meta-analyze the values?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Gianfranco

[Tiago Pereira]

Gianfranco, hi.

Is there a common reference group?

[Gianfranco Di Gennaro]

Hi Tiago Pereira ,

unfortunately not! :-(

[Tiago Pereira]

That's an interesting analysis. If you simply combine the logORs, the summary estimate may be clinically non-interpretable.

I would lean toward fitting a dose-response meta-analysis model, say, one-stage. The mean dose in each category would be the mid point, say (26+55)/2.

Check this paper:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epu...62280218773122