\title{studies on complementary and alternative medicine for irritable bowel syndrome}
\description{results from 19 trials examining complementary and alternative medicine (cam) for irritable bowel syndrome (ibs).}
\bold{id}       \tab \code{numeric}   \tab trial id number \cr
\bold{study}    \tab \code{character} \tab (first) author \cr
\bold{country}  \tab \code{character} \tab country where trial was conducted \cr
\bold{ibs.crit} \tab \code{character} \tab ibs diagnostic criteria (manning, rome i, rome ii, or other) \cr
\bold{days}     \tab \code{numeric}   \tab number of treatment days \cr
\bold{visits}   \tab \code{numeric}   \tab number of practitioner visits \cr
\bold{jada}     \tab \code{numeric}   \tab jadad score \cr
\bold{x.a}      \tab \code{numeric}   \tab number of responders in the active treatment group \cr
\bold{n.a}      \tab \code{numeric}   \tab number of participants in the active treatment group \cr
\bold{x.p}      \tab \code{numeric}   \tab number of responders in the placebo group \cr
\bold{n.p}      \tab \code{numeric}   \tab number of participants in the placebo group
the dataset includes the results from 19 randomized clinical trials that examined the effectiveness of complementary and alternative medicine (cam) for irritable bowel syndrome (ibs).
the data were extracted from table i in dorn et al. (2009). comparing the funnel plot in figure 1 with the one obtained below indicates that the data for study 5 (davis et al., 2006) in the table were not the ones that were used in the actual analyses.
dorn, s. d., kaptchuk, t. j., park, j. b., nguyen, l. t., canenguez, k., nam, b. h., woods, k. b., conboy, l. a., stason, w. b., & lembo, a. j. (2007). a meta-analysis of the placebo response in complementary and alternative medicine trials of irritable bowel syndrome. \emph{neurogastroenterology & motility}, \bold{19}(8), 630--637. \verb{https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2982.2007.00937.x}
dat <- escalc(measure="rr", ai=x.a, n1i=n.a, ci=x.p, n2i=n.p, data=dat)
res <- rma(yi, vi, data=dat, digits=2, method="dl")
### funnel plot with study 5 highlighted in red
ylim=c(0,1), steps=6, las=1, col=ifelse(id == 5, "red", "black"))
### results are now more in line with what is reported in the paper
### (although the ci in the paper is not wide enough)
medicine, alternative medicine, risk ratios