Solved – How to compare concordance correlation coefficient to Pearson’s r

correlationpearson-r

I am writing a meta-analysis looking at the correlation between different tests for assessing body composition.

The results of the studies that I have included use different ways to calculate the correlation, including linear regression ($R^{2}$), Pearson's $r$, concordance correlation coefficient (CCC), and mean difference (SD) + 95% CI.

I would like to compare these results. I have found that I can take $\sqrt{R^{2}}$ to get $r$. Is there also a way to calculate $r$ from CCC? Or is CCC so similar to Pearson's $r$, that I can just call it $r$ and throw everything on one pile?

Best Answer

Pearson's r measures linearity, while CCC measures agreement. Imagine a scatterplot between the two measures. High agreement implies that the scatterplot points are close to the 45 degrees line of perfect concordance which runs diagonally to the scatterplot, whereas a high Pearson's r implies that the scatterplot points are close to any straight line.

In practice,

CCC = r * C_b 

where r is Pearson's r, and C_b is a bias correction factor.

Therefore, CCC cannot be compared to Pearson's r. To calculate Pearson's r from CCC for a direct comparison you will need to divide CCC by C_b.