Gao, Ya, Shi, Shuzhen, Li, Muyang, Luo, Xinyuan, Liu, Ming, Yang, Keqin, Zhang, Junhua, Song, Fujian and Tian, Jinhui (2020) Statistical analyses and quality of individual participant data network meta-analyses were suboptimal: a cross-sectional study. BMC Medicine, 18. ISSN 1741-7015
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Abstract
Background: Network meta-analyses using individual participant data (IPD-NMAs) have been increasingly used to compare the effects of multiple interventions. Although there have been many studies on statistical methods for IPD-NMAs, it is unclear whether there are statistical defects in published IPD-NMAs and whether the reporting of statistical analyses has improved. This study aimed to investigate statistical methods used and assess the reporting and methodological quality of IPD-NMAs. Methods: We searched four bibliographic databases to identify published IPD-NMAs. The methodological quality was assessed using AMSTAR-2 and reporting quality assessed based on PRISMA-IPD and PRISMA-NMA. We performed stratified analyses and correlation analyses to explore the factors that might affect quality. Results: We identified 21 IPD-NMAs. Only 23.8% of the included IPD-NMAs reported statistical techniques used for missing participant data, 42.9% assessed the consistency, and none assessed the transitivity. None of the included IPD-NMAs reported sources of funding for trials included, only 9.5% stated pre-registration of protocols, and 28.6% assessed the risk of bias in individual studies. For reporting quality, compliance rates were lower than 50.0% for more than half of the items. Less than 15.0% of the IPD-NMAs reported data integrity, presented the network geometry, or clarified risk of bias across studies. IPD-NMAs with statistical or epidemiological authors often better assessed the inconsistency (P = 0.017). IPD-NMAs with a priori protocol were associated with higher reporting quality in terms of search (P = 0.046), data collection process (P = 0.031), and syntheses of results (P = 0.006). Conclusions: The reporting of statistical methods and compliance rates of methodological and reporting items of IPD-NMAs were suboptimal. Authors of future IPD-NMAs should address the identified flaws and strictly adhere to methodological and reporting guidelines.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | individual participant data,methodological quality,network meta-analysis,reporting quality,statistical analysis,medicine(all) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700 |
Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School |
UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Epidemiology and Public Health Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Services and Primary Care Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Population Health |
Related URLs: | |
Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
Date Deposited: | 09 Jun 2020 00:06 |
Last Modified: | 25 Sep 2024 14:44 |
URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/75503 |
DOI: | 10.1186/s12916-020-01591-0 |
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