Testing moderation in network meta-analysis with individual participant data.

ABSTRACT: Meta-analytic methods for combining data from multiple intervention trials are commonly used to estimate the effectiveness of an intervention. They can also be extended to study comparative effectiveness, testing which of several alternative interventions is expected to have the strongest effect. This often requires network meta-analysis (NMA), which combines trials involving direct comparison of two interventions within the same trial and indirect comparisons across trials. In this paper, we extend existing network methods for main effects to examining moderator effects, allowing for tests of whether intervention effects vary for different populations or when employed in different contexts. In addition, we study how the use of individual participant data may increase the sensitivity of NM

SUBMITTER: Dagne GA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4893003 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature