Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25851533›Full record

ArticleStatistics in medicine2015

Detecting outlying trials in network meta-analysis.

Jing Zhang, Haoda Fu, Bradley P Carlin

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Statistics in medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 4 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

23 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  5. Tipping point analysis in network meta-analysis.Research synthesis methods · 2025
    Article
  6. A novel robust meta-analysis model using theResearch synthesis methods · 2025
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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

3 authors.

Jing ZhangDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, 20740, MD, U.S.A.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8126-3109
Haoda FuEli Lilly and Company, Lilly Corporate Center, Indianapolis, 46285, IN, U.S.A.
Bradley P CarlinDivision of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, 55455, MN, U.S.A.

Funding

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 R01 CA157458NCI NIH HHS R01 CA157458-01A1NIAID NIH HHS R21 AI103012NICHD NIH HHS R24 HD041041
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Network meta-analysis (NMA) expands the scope of a conventional pairwise meta-analysis to simultaneously handle multiple treatment comparisons. However, some trials may appear to deviate markedly from the others and thus be inappropriate to be synthesized in the NMA. In addition, the inclusion of these trials in evidence synthesis may lead to bias in estimation. We call such trials trial-level outliers. To the best of our knowledge, while heterogeneity and inconsistency in NMA have been extensively discussed and well addressed, few previous papers have considered the proper detection and handling of trial-level outliers. In this paper, we propose several Bayesian outlier detection measures, which are then applied to a diabetes data set. Simulation studies comparing our approaches in both arm-based and contrast-based model settings are provided in two supporting appendices.

Indexed as

Bayes TheoremBiasMeta-Analysis as TopicClinical Trials as TopicHumansHypoglycemic AgentsNormal DistributionHypoglycemic Agentsdetection measuresnetwork meta-analysistrial-level outliers

Identifiers

PMID25851533
PMCPMC4496319

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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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.