Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25533265›Full record

ArticleBMC medical research methodology2014

Indirect comparisons of ranibizumab and dexamethasone in macular oedema secondary to retinal vein occlusion.

Howard H Z Thom, Gorana Capkun, Richard M Nixon, Alberto Ferreira

Open access · goldAbstract readComparative Study
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical research methodology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.7field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
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

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Review
  5. Review
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

4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Howard H Z ThomSchool of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. howard.thom@bristol.ac.uk.
Gorana Capkun
Richard M Nixon
Alberto Ferreira
Novartis (Switzerland) · CHUniversity of Bristol · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTwo treatments, ranibizumab and dexamethasone implant, for visual impairment due to macular oedema (ME) secondary to retinal vein occlusion (RVO) have recently been studied in clinical trials. There have been no head to head comparisons of the two treatments, and improvement measured as gain in Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA) was reported using different outcomes thresholds between trials. To overcome these limitations, and inform an economic model, we developed a combination of a multinomial model and an indirect Bayesian comparison model for multinomial outcomes.

methodsOutcomes of change from baseline in BCVA for dexamethasone compatible with those available for ranibizumab, reported by 4 randomised controlled trials, were estimated by fitting a multinomial distribution model to the probability of a patient achieving outcomes in a range of changes from baseline in BCVA (numbers of letters) at month 1. A Bayesian indirect comparison multinomial model was then developed to compare treatments in the Branch RVO (BRVO) and Central RVO (CRVO) populations.

resultsThe multinomial model had excellent fit to the observed results. With the Bayesian indirect comparison, the probabilities of achieving ≥20 letters, with 95% credible intervals, at month 1 in patients with BRVO were 0.191 (0.130, 0.261) with ranibizumab and 0.093 (0.027, 0.213) with dexamethasone. In patients with CRVO, probabilities were 0.133 (0.082, 0.195) (ranibizumab) and 0.063 (0.016, 0.153) (dexamethasone). Probabilities of a gain in ≥10 letters in BRVO patients were 0.500 (0.365, 0.650) v 0.459 (0.248, 0.724) and in CRVO patients 0.459 (0.332, 0.602) v 0.498 (0.263, 0.791) for ranibizumab and dexamethasone treatments respectively. The comparisons also favoured ranibizumab at month 6 although changes to therapies after month 3 may have introduced bias.

conclusionThe newly developed combination of multinomial and indirect Bayesian comparison models indicated a trend for ranibizumab association with a greater percentage of ME patients achieving visual gains than dexamethasone at months 1 and 6 in a common clinical context, although results were not classically significant. The method was a useful tool for comparisons of probability distributions between clinical trials that reported events on different categorical scales and estimates can be used to inform economic models.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overBayes TheoremDexamethasoneFemaleHumansMacular EdemaMaleMiddle AgedRanibizumabRetinal Vein OcclusionStatistical DistributionsTreatment OutcomeVisual AcuityYoung AdultDexamethasoneRanibizumab

Identifiers

PMID25533265
PMCPMC4289570
OpenAlexW2105975381

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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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.