Characteristics of Networks of Interventions_ A.pdf

Characteristics of Networks of Interventions: A Description of a Database of 186 Published Networks 1 1 1 2,3 Adriani Nikolakopoulou , Anna Chaimani , Areti Angeliki Veroniki , Haris S. Vasiliadis , 4 1 Christopher H. Schmid , Georgia Salanti * 1 Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece, 2 Department of Orthopaedics, University of Ioannina School of Medicine, Ioannina, Greece, 3 Molecular Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, 4 Center for Evidence Based Medicine and Department of Biostatistics, Program in Public Health, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America Abstract Systematic reviews that employ network meta-analysis are undertaken and published with increasing frequency while related statistical methodology is evolving. Future statistical developments and evaluation of the existing methodologies could be motivated by the characteristics of the networks of interventions published so far in order to tackle real rather than theoretical problems. Based on the recently formed network meta-analysis literature we aim to provide an insight into the characteristics of networks in healthcare research. We searched PubMed until end of 2012 for meta-analyses that used any form of indirect comparison. We collected data from networks that compared at least four treatments regarding their structural characteristics as well as characteristics of their analysis. We then conducted a descriptive analysis of the various network characteristics. We included 186 networks of which 35 (19%) were sta