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Table 4 Methodological characteristics of identified empirical networks, including unpublished data provided by study authors. Figures are no. (%) of studies

From: A scoping review of indirect comparison methods and applications using individual patient data

Characteristic

IPD-NMA studiesa

MAIC studiesa

Totala

Design of studies included in analyses

 RCTs

21 (70)

9 (30)

30 (91)

 RCTs + observational

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (3)

 RCTs + quasi-RCTs

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (3)

 RCTs, non-RCTs, CBA

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (3)

 Total

24 (73)

9 (27)

33 (100)

Fixed- or random-effects model

   

 Random-effects model

10 (100)

0 (0)

10 (30)

 Fixed-effect model

7 (100)

0 (0)

7 (21)

 Fixed- and random-effects models

5 (100)

0 (0)

5 (15)

 Not reported/not applicable

2 (18)

9 (82)

11 (33)

 Total

24 (73)

9 (27)

33 (100)

Between-study variance estimator/prior

   

 Non-informative prior

10 (100)

0 (0)

10 (67)

 Informative prior

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (7)

 Minimally informative prior

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (7)

 DL [72]

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (7)

 REML [73]

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (7)

 Not reported

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (7)

 Total

15 (100)

0 (0)

15 (100)

Methods used to compare different models

 DIC [74]

10 (100)

0 (0)

10 (30)

 Statistical significance of regression coefficients and between-study variance

3 (100)

0 (0)

3 (9)

 DIC and residual deviance [74]

2 (100)

0 (0)

2 (6)

 Comparison of point estimates and their CIs

0 (0)

2 (100)

2 (6)

 AIC and Hosmer–Lemeshow [75, 76]

0 (0)

1 (100)

1 (3)

 DIC and AIC [74, 75]

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (3)

 Not applicable

8 (57)

6 (43)

14 (42)

 Total

24 (73)

9 (27)

33 (100)

Statistical techniques used for missing participant data

 LOCF

2 (67)

1 (33)

3 (9)

 MCMC multiple imputations

2 (100)

0 (0)

2 (6)

 ACA

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (3)

 LOCF and ACA

0 (0)

1 (100)

1 (3)

 Not reported/unclear

19 (73)

7 (27)

26 (79)

 Total

24 (73)

9 (27)

33 (100)

Methods used to rank treatment effectiveness/safety

 Probability of being the best

11 (100)

0 (0)

11 (33)

 Not reported/not applicable

13 (59)

9 (41)

22 (67)

 Total

24 (73)

9 (27)

33 (100)

Assessment of consistency assumption

 Yes

13 (100)

0 (0)

13 (39)

 No/unclear

6 (75)

2 (25)

8 (24)

 Not applicable

5 (42)

7 (58)

12 (36)

 Total

24 (73)

9 (27)

33 (100)

Methods used to assess consistency assumption

 Informal approachesb

8 (100)

0 (0)

8 (62)

 Loop-specific approach [68, 77]

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (8)

 Loop-specific approach and back-calculation [68, 77, 78]

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (8)

 Lu and Ades [79]

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (8)

 Lumley [70]

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (8)

 Node-splitting [78]

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (8)

 Total

13 (100)

0 (0)

13 (100)

Inclusion of different treatment doses

 No

18 (75)

6 (25)

24 (73)

 Yes

6 (67)

3 (33)

9 (27)

 Total

24 (73)

9 (27)

33 (100)

Approaches used to account for different treatment doses

 Lumping doses

4 (80)

1 (20)

5 (56)

 Splitting doses

2 (50)

2 (50)

4 (44)

 Total

6 (67)

3 (33)

9 (100)

Software

   

 WinBUGS [55]

7 (100)

0 (0)

7 (21)

 SAS [80]

2 (33)

4 (67)

6 (18)

 WinBUGS and R [55, 81]

5 (100)

0 (0)

5 (15)

 OpenBUGS [54]

2 (100)

0 (0)

2 (6)

 WinBUGS and Stata [55, 82]

2 (100)

0 (0)

2 (6)

 JAGS and R [53, 81]

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (3)

 Stata [82]

1 (100)

0 (0)

1 (3)

 Not reported

4 (44)

5 (56)

9 (27)

 Total

24 (73)

9 (27)

33 (100)

  1. ACA available case analysis, AIC Akaike information criterion, CBA controlled before-and-after, CI confidence interval, DIC deviance information criterion, DL DerSimonian and Laird, IPD-NMA individual patient data network meta-analysis, LOCF last observation carried forward, MAIC matching adjusted indirect comparison, MCMC Markov chain Monte Carlo, RCT randomized clinical trial, REML restricted maximum likelihood
  2. aPercentages were calculated across the row for IPD-NMA and MAIC/STC, but down the column for the “Total” column. Total number of included studies n = 37. Total number of empirical networks n = 33. Please note that the empirical networks include 8 methodological and 1 review papers
  3. bInformal approaches are comparison of NMA results with results previously published, comparison of NMA results with pairwise meta-analysis results, comparison of IPD-NMA with meta-regression IPD-NMA results, comparison of IPD-NMA with aggregated data NMA results
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BMC Medical Research Methodology

ISSN: 1471-2288

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