Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24096635›Full record

ArticleClinical trials (London, England)2014

Network meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials: reporting the proper summaries.

Jing Zhang, Bradley P Carlin, James D Neaton, Guoxing G Soon, Lei Nie, Robert Kane, Beth A Virnig, Haitao Chu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical trials (London, England), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
58citing papers in PubMed, 11 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

58 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Interventions for Reversing Prediabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.American journal of preventive medicine · 2022 · on this map
    Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Pooled it
  7. Pooled it
  8. Pooled it
  9. Pooled it
  10. Pooled it
  11. Pooled it
  12. Tipping point analysis in network meta-analysis.Research synthesis methods · 2025
    Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Jing ZhangaDivision of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Bradley P Carlin
James D Neaton
Guoxing G Soon
Lei Nie
Robert Kane
Beth A Virnig
Haitao Chu

Funding

Women's CancerP30CA077598 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TWIN CITIES · PI Jeffrey S. Miller · 1998 to 2026
$100.4M
Statistical Methods for Cancer Clinical TrialsP01CA142538 · NCI · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI KOSOROK, MICHAEL R · 2010 to 2019
$21.3M
MARYLAND POPULATION RESEARCH CENTERR24HD041041 · NICHD · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · PI HOFFERTH, SANDRA L · 2001 to 2016
$6.6M
Statistical Methods and Software for More Efficient, Ethical, and Affordable ClinR01CA157458 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI CARLIN, BRADLEY P · 2012 to 2014
$939k
Bayesian Methods and Software for Patient-Centered Network Meta-Analysis of BinarR21AI103012 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · PI CHU, HAITAO · 2013 to 2014
$385k
NCI NIH HHS 1P01CA142538NCI NIH HHS 1R01-CA157458-01A1NCI NIH HHS P01 CA142538NCI NIH HHS P30 CA077598NCI NIH HHS R01 CA157458NIAID NIH HHS AI103012NIAID NIH HHS R21 AI103012NICHD NIH HHS R24 HD041041
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIn the absence of sufficient data directly comparing multiple treatments, indirect comparisons using network meta-analyses (NMAs) can provide useful information. Under current contrast-based (CB) methods for binary outcomes, the patient-centered measures including the treatment-specific event rates and risk differences (RDs) are not provided, which may create some unnecessary obstacles for patients to comprehensively trade-off efficacy and safety measures. PURPOSE: We aim to develop NMA to accurately estimate the treatment-specific event rates.

methodsA Bayesian hierarchical model is developed to illustrate how treatment-specific event rates, RDs, and risk ratios (RRs) can be estimated. We first compare our approach to alternative methods using two hypothetical NMAs assuming a fixed RR or RD, and then use two published NMAs to illustrate the improved reporting.

resultsIn the hypothetical NMAs, our approach outperforms current CB NMA methods in terms of bias. In the two published NMAs, noticeable differences are observed in the magnitude of relative treatment effects and several pairwise statistical significance tests from previous report. LIMITATIONS: First, to facilitate the estimation, each study is assumed to hypothetically compare all treatments, with unstudied arms being missing at random. It is plausible that investigators may have selected treatment arms on purpose based on the results of previous trials, which may lead to 'nonignorable missingness' and potentially bias our estimates. Second, we have not considered methods to identify and account for potential inconsistency between direct and indirect comparisons.

conclusionsThe proposed NMA method can accurately estimate treatment-specific event rates, RDs, and RRs and is recommended.

Indexed as

Meta-Analysis as TopicRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicBayes TheoremHumansOdds Ratio

Identifiers

PMID24096635
PMCPMC3972291

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.