Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: Individual patient data (IPD) may increase precision in network meta-analysis (NMA) compared to using aggregated data (AD), as it utilizes both within-study and across-study data. The use of IPD in NMA also prevents misleading inferences due to bias, such as aggregation bias, and allows for the identification of interactions due to patient-level effect modifiers, that cannot be detected using AD. While applications of IPD-NMA methods have been published, a scoping review presenting all approaches to applying an IPD-NMA has not been conducted.
Objectives: To synthesize existing IPD-NMA methods, summarize their properties, and describe the characteristics of published IPD-NMAs.
Methods: We searched relevant electronic databases from inception until September 2014 and for grey literature through Google. Published and unpublished studies were eligible, including studies suggesting and/or applying IPD-NMA methods or studies addressing the methodological quality of IPD-NMA. We included IPD-NMAs of all quantitative study designs. Several approaches have been presented in the literature for modeling IPD alone or in combination with AD in NMA, which vary in popularity and complexity. We will provide guidance for selecting an appropriate IPD-NMA model, identify gaps where methodology is lacking, and highlight the potential for novel statistical advances which are necessary to evaluate the key assumptions in NMA. We will present the characteristics of previously conducted IPD-NMAs, and the methods that have been applied. Quantitative data (e.g. number of patients) will be summarized by medians and interquartile ranges, while categorical data (e.g. effect size) will be summarized by numbers and percentages.
Results: The results will be ready by September 2015 and will be presented at the Cochrane Colloquium.
Discussion: Our study will provide a comprehensive overview of the methods for completing an IPD-NMA, as well as insight into the characteristics of IPD-NMAs that have been conducted.
Objectives: To synthesize existing IPD-NMA methods, summarize their properties, and describe the characteristics of published IPD-NMAs.
Methods: We searched relevant electronic databases from inception until September 2014 and for grey literature through Google. Published and unpublished studies were eligible, including studies suggesting and/or applying IPD-NMA methods or studies addressing the methodological quality of IPD-NMA. We included IPD-NMAs of all quantitative study designs. Several approaches have been presented in the literature for modeling IPD alone or in combination with AD in NMA, which vary in popularity and complexity. We will provide guidance for selecting an appropriate IPD-NMA model, identify gaps where methodology is lacking, and highlight the potential for novel statistical advances which are necessary to evaluate the key assumptions in NMA. We will present the characteristics of previously conducted IPD-NMAs, and the methods that have been applied. Quantitative data (e.g. number of patients) will be summarized by medians and interquartile ranges, while categorical data (e.g. effect size) will be summarized by numbers and percentages.
Results: The results will be ready by September 2015 and will be presented at the Cochrane Colloquium.
Discussion: Our study will provide a comprehensive overview of the methods for completing an IPD-NMA, as well as insight into the characteristics of IPD-NMAs that have been conducted.