Prior Choices of Between-Study Heterogeneity in Contemporary Bayesian Network Meta-analyses: an Empirical Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Network meta-analysis (NMA) is a popular tool to compare multiple treatments in medical research. It is frequently implemented via Bayesian methods. The prior choice of between-study heterogeneity is critical in Bayesian NMAs. This study evaluates the impact of different priors for heterogeneity on NMA results.

Methods

We identified all NMAs with binary outcomes published in The BMJ, JAMA, and The Lancet during 2010-2018, and extracted information about their prior choices for heterogeneity. Our primary analyses focused on those with publicly available full data. We re-analyzed the NMAs using 3 commonly-used non-informative priors and empirical informative log-normal priors. We obtained the posterior median odds ratios and 95% credible intervals of all comparisons

SUBMITTER: Rosenberger KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8041977 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature