Reporting of results from network meta-analyses: methodological systematic review

Abstract

Objective: To examine how the results of network meta-analyses are reported.

Design: Methodological systematic review of published reports of network meta-analyses.

Data sources: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, Medline, and Embase, searched from inception to 12 July 2012.

Study selection: All network meta-analyses comparing the clinical efficacy of three or more interventions in randomised controlled trials were included, excluding meta-analyses with an open loop network of three interventions.

Data extraction and synthesis: The reporting of the network and results was assessed. A composite outcome included the description of the network (number of interventions, direct comparisons, and randomised controlled trials and patients for each comparison) and the reporting of effect sizes derived from direct evidence, indirect evidence, and the network meta-analysis.

Results: 121 network meta-analyses (55 published in general journals; 48 funded by at least one private source) were included. The network and its geometry (network graph) were not reported in 100 (83%) articles. The effect sizes derived from direct evidence, indirect evidence, and the network meta-analysis were not reported in 48 (40%), 108 (89%), and 43 (36%) articles, respectively. In 52 reports that ranked interventions, 43 did not report the uncertainty in ranking. Overall, 119 (98%) reports of network meta-analyses did not give a description of the network or effect sizes from direct evidence, indirect evidence, and the network meta-analysis. This finding did not differ by journal type or funding source.

Conclusions: The results of network meta-analyses are heterogeneously reported. Development of reporting guidelines to assist authors in writing and readers in critically appraising reports of network meta-analyses is timely.

Reporting items for results of network meta-analyses. The idea is to show which items were reported in each of the 121 network meta-analyses. Each horizontal line of the gap chart corresponds to one network meta-analysis report. A specific colour was attributed to each of the 10 items studied. The colour bands show which of these items (labelled at the top) were reported for each network meta-analysis. Items were grouped into three categories: 4 items in blue pertain to the description of network, and 1 item in purple pertains to its geometry (network graph); 4 items in green pertain to effect size estimates for pairwise comparisons between interventions; 1 item pertains to intervention ranking. The 121 network meta-analysis reports were sorted according to the total number of reported items, in decreasing order. The diagram on the left shows the distribution of the total number of reported items across the 121 network meta-analyses. The diagram at the bottom shows the proportion of network meta-analysis reports that reported each item