Network meta-analysis including treatment by covariate interactions: Consistency can vary across covariate values.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Many reviews aim to compare numerous treatments and report results stratified by subgroups (eg, by disease severity). In such cases, a network meta-analysis model including treatment by covariate interactions can estimate the relative effects of all treatment pairings for each subgroup of patients. Two key assumptions underlie such models: consistency of treatment effects and consistency of the regression coefficients for the interactions. Consistency may differ depending on the covariate value at which consistency is assessed. For valid inference, we need to be confident of consistency for the relevant range of covariate values. In this paper, we demonstrate how to assess consistency of treatment effects from direct and indirect evidence at various covariate values.

SUBMITTER: Donegan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5724666 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature