Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33015906›Full record

ArticleStatistics in medicine2020

Assessing the performance of population adjustment methods for anchored indirect comparisons: A simulation study.

David M Phillippo, Sofia Dias, A E Ades, Nicky J Welton

Abstract readNetwork Meta-Analysis
In one paragraph

Article in Statistics in medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
41citing 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

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

  1. Pooled it
  2. Effect of Dexmedetomidine Dose on Reducing Delirium in Adults: An Indirect Comparison of Controlled Trials.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2025
    Pooled it
  3. Systematic review and indirect treatment comparisons of ritlecitinib against baricitinib in alopecia areata.Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV · 2025
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  13. A Review of Methods for Research Synthesis.Statistics in medicine · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

David M PhillippoBristol Medical School (Population Health Sciences), University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-2672-7841
Sofia DiasBristol Medical School (Population Health Sciences), University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-2172-0221
A E AdesBristol Medical School (Population Health Sciences), University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Nicky J WeltonBristol Medical School (Population Health Sciences), University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.

Funding

Medical Research Council MC_U145079307Medical Research Council MR/K025643/1UK Medical Research Council MR/P015298/1UK Medical Research Council MR/R025223/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Standard network meta-analysis and indirect comparisons combine aggregate data from multiple studies on treatments of interest, assuming that any factors that interact with treatment effects (effect modifiers) are balanced across populations. Population adjustment methods such as multilevel network meta-regression (ML-NMR), matching-adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC), and simulated treatment comparison (STC) relax this assumption using individual patient data from one or more studies, and are becoming increasingly prevalent in health technology appraisals and the applied literature. Motivated by an applied example and two recent reviews of applications, we undertook an extensive simulation study to assess the performance of these methods in a range of scenarios under various failures of assumptions. We investigated the impact of varying sample size, missing effect modifiers, strength of effect modification and validity of the shared effect modifier assumption, validity of extrapolation and varying between-study overlap, and different covariate distributions and correlations. ML-NMR and STC performed similarly, eliminating bias when the requisite assumptions were met. Serious concerns are raised for MAIC, which performed poorly in nearly all simulation scenarios and may even increase bias compared with standard indirect comparisons. All methods incur bias when an effect modifier is missing, highlighting the necessity of careful selection of potential effect modifiers prior to analysis. When all effect modifiers are included, ML-NMR and STC are robust techniques for population adjustment. ML-NMR offers additional advantages over MAIC and STC, including extending to larger treatment networks and producing estimates in any target population, making this an attractive choice in a variety of scenarios.

Indexed as

Computer SimulationBiasHumansSample Sizeeffect modificationindirect comparisonindividual patient datamatching-adjusted indirect comparisonmultilevel network meta-regressionsimulated treatment comparison

Identifiers

PMID33015906
PMCPMC8690023

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.