title: GetReal in network meta-analysis: a review of the methodology.
abstract: Pairwise meta-analysis is an established statistical tool for synthesizing evidence from multiple trials, but it is informative only about the relative efficacy of two specific interventions. The usefulness of pairwise meta-analysis is thus limited in real-life medical practice, where many competing interventions may be available for a certain condition and studies informing some of the pairwise comparisons may be lacking. This commonly encountered scenario has led to the development of network meta-analysis (NMA). In the last decade, several applications, methodological developments, and empirical studies in NMA have been published, and the area is thriving as its relevance to public health is increasingly recognized. This article presents a review of the relevant literature on NMA methodology aiming to pinpoint the developments that have appeared in the field. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece. oremiou@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Orestis
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Efthimiou
authors.affiliation: Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.|The Dutch Cochrane Centre, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Thomas P A
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Debray
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van Valkenhoef
authors.affiliation: Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.|CTU Bern, Department of Clinical Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Trelle
authors.affiliation: Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Klea
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Panayidou
authors.affiliation: Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.|The Dutch Cochrane Centre, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Karel G M
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Moons
authors.affiliation: Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.|The Dutch Cochrane Centre, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Johannes B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Reitsma
authors.affiliation: F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Aijing
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Georgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Salanti
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003198:Computer Simulation; D016206:Databases, Bibliographic; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010919:Placebos; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012107:Research Design; D012984:Software; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D000071076:Network Meta-Analysis as Topic
chemical_list: D010919:Placebos
keywords: comparing multiple interventions; indirect treatment comparison; mixed-treatment comparison; multiple-treatment meta-analysis