PRIME-IPD SERIES Part 3. The PRIME-IPD tool fills a gap in guidance for preparing IPD for analysis

Abstract

We thank Levis et al. for their interest in our study and for sharing their perspective on preparing IPD for analysis. We wish to emphasize that our paper's purpose was to provide guidance on the different steps that should be undertaken when preparing IPD for analysis, but not to be prescriptive about how each step should be performed. The examples provided in the manuscript are examples of how we applied PRIME (Preparation, Replication, Imputation, Merging, Evaluation) to our Network Meta-Analysis and are in no way comprehensive [ [1] Welch VA Hossain A Ghogomu E Riddle A Cousens S Gaffey M et al. Deworming children for soil-transmitted helminths in low and middle-income countries: systematic review and individual participant data network meta-analysis. J Dev Effect. 2019; 11: 288-306 Crossref PubMed Scopus (4) Google Scholar , [2] Welch VA Ghogomu E Hossain A Riddle A Gaffey M Arora P et al. Mass deworming for improving health and cognition of children in endemic helminth areas: a systematic review and individual participant data network meta-analysis. Campbell Syst Rev. 2019; 15: e1058 Crossref Scopus (7) Google Scholar . The suggestions provided by Levis et al. in their commentary emphasize the importance of having a structured process for managing IPD. We agree that the finer details of that structured process may vary since they should be determined by the nature of the datasets and share Levis et al.’s desire to see our framework refined in order to develop a robust scientific process to answer the research questions with validity.