Addressing challenges in reviewing e-cigarette evidence: proposing a new ‘Test for Dominance’ in systematic reviews
Garth Reid, Glenna Nightingale, Nason Maani, Mike Smith, Mark Petticrew · 2026
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Description
Garth Reid, Glenna Nightingale, Nason Maani, Mike Smith, and Mark Petticrew propose, in a 2026 paper, a new check for systematic reviews: a Test for Dominance. Reviews pool many studies into one verdict, and their conclusions on e-cigarettes for quitting smoking are hotly contested. If one big study silently drives the pooled result, the verdict rests on a single leg. Current checks do not measure that directly.
Their test re-runs the pooled analysis leaving one study out at a time and watches how much the answer moves. Applied to a prominent review of e-cigarettes, it shows that one large trial dominates the whole pool. The authors argue the test should sit beside the standard checks for spread and sensitivity. Where a single study dominates, readers should treat the review's verdict with caution, and more trials should be run to firm the ground.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Garth Reid, Glenna Nightingale, Nason Maani, Mike Smith, Mark Petticrew |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 19 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |