st: Meta-analysis of rates greater than 1 (when the event number is greater than the sample size)

["Wang, Alberta L" <Alberta.L.Wang@uth.tmc.edu>]

Is anyone familiar with how to perform a meta-analysis of rates in STATA when the number of events is greater than the sample size (i.e., when the rate is greater than 1)?

The data I'm working with has one group per study. To further explain, I am performing a meta-analysis of partner notification outcome rates--for example, the number of sex partners notified per index patient.  The index patient is the patient diagnosed with a STI who is notifying his/her sex partners of possible exposure. The number of partners notified (number of events) can be higher than the number of index patients (sample size) because one index patient can notify more than one sex partner. 

I tried using the Freeman-Tukey arcsin transformation and back transformation method for meta-analysis of proportions as described in the archives (http://www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2004-09/msg00386.html). However, this method does not seem to work when the rate is greater than 1.

Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Alberta Wang
The University of Texas Medical School at Houston


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