ICEMAN
Instrument to assess the credibility of effect modification analyses
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Welcome!
Welcome to the web pages for ICEMAN! ICEMAN is an instrument to help researchers identify credible effect modification (also called subgroup effect, statistical interaction, moderation, or heterogeneity of treatment effects).
Users of ICEMAN include
- Trial investigators who are planning or considering the results of a subgroup analysis;
- Meta-analysts who are planning or considering the results of a subgroup analysis;
- Authors of systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines who assess subgroup claims made in published reports of trials or meta-analyses;
- Journal editors, referees, methods consultants, and others concerned with the quality of subgroup analyses in trials or meta-analyses.
ICEMAN comes in two different versions, one for randomized controlled trials and one for meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. Users have also found it helpful for other study types, such as cohort studies or meta-analyses of observational studies. For these applications, users should consider the additional risk of bias in the overall credibility rating.
ICEMAN uses structured questions and response options and produces an overall credibility rating from very low to high.
When reporting an ICEMAN assessment in a paper, users can download the fillable form for RCTs or meta-analyses and include it in the appendix of their publication. Alternatively, they can complete the tool online and download a reporting table. We also provide templates for summarizing several assessments in a single table and a detailed user manual.
How to cite
Schandelmaier S, Briel M, Varadhan R, Schmid CH, Devasenapathy N, Hayward RA, Gagnier JJ, Borenstein M, VanDerHeijden GJMG, Dahabreh IJ, Sun X, Sauerbrei W, Walsh M, Ioannidis JPA, Thabane L, Guyatt GH. Development of a tool to assess the credibility of subgroup analyses (ICEMAN) in randomized trials and systematic reviews. CMAJ 2020;192(32):E901–E906. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.200077
See about page for other publications, endorsements, and related ongoing projects.