Table 3 Characteristics of guidance documents (n = 13)
First author, year of publication | Title | Objective | Research institute | Country of the first author | Methods used to develop the guidance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brignardello-Petersen 2018 [22] | Advances in the GRADE approach to rate the certainty in estimates from a network meta-analysis | Present recent advances to grade the certainty of the evidence | GRADE Working Group | Canada | NR |
CADTH 2015 [52] | Guidance document on reporting indirect comparisons | Provide guidance on reporting indirect comparisons | CADTH | Canada | NR |
Chaimani 2019 [53] | Undertaking network meta-analyses | Introduce/provide an overview of concepts, assumptions and methods of NMAs | Cochrane | UK | NR |
Chaimani 2017a [54] | Additional considerations are required when preparing a protocol for a systematic review with multiple interventions | Highlight aspects of a standard systematic review protocol that may need modification when multiple interventions are to be compared | University of Ioannina School of Medicine | Greece | NR |
Chaimani 2017b [55] | Common pitfalls and mistakes in the set-up, analysis and interpretation of results in network meta-analysis: what clinicians should look for in a published article | Provide a practical framework to assess the methodological robustness and reliability of results from network meta-analysis | University of Ioannina School of Medicine | Greece | NR |
Coleman 2012 [56] | Use of mixed treatment comparisons in systematic reviews | Summarise available guidance for meta-analytic methods, identify analyses using these methods and summarize their characteristics, and identify rationale for selection/implementation/reporting of methods from investigators | Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) | United States | Review guidance documents and MTC literature, expert opinion |
Cope 2014 [57] | A process for assessing the feasibility of a network meta-analysis: a case study of everolimus in combination with hormonal therapy versus chemotherapy for advanced breast cancer | Outline a general process for assessing the feasibility of performing a valid NMA of RCT | Mapi | Canada | NR |
Dwan 2020 [58] | Editorial decisions in reviews with network meta-analysis | Present editorial considerations in reviews with NMA | Cochrane | UK | NR |
Foote 2015 [59] | Network Meta-analysis: Users' Guide for Surgeons: Part I—Credibility | Show the application of evaluation criteria for determining the credibility of a NMA through an example pertinent to clinical orthopaedics | McMaster University | Canada | NR |
Haute Autorité de Santé 2009 [60] | Indirect comparisons Methods and validity | Introduce and discuss indirect comparison methods | Haute Autorité de Santé | France | Review of literature, expert peer review |
Hummela 2017 [61] | Work Package 4: Methodological guidance, recommendations and illustrative case studies for (network) meta-analysis and modelling to predict real-world effectiveness using individual participant and/or aggregate data | Summarise state-of-the-art methods in NMA, IPD meta-analysis and mathematical modelling to predict drug effectiveness based on RCT data and related software, and discuss their advantages and limitations | University of Bern | Switzerland | Review of literature |
Laws 2019 [41] | A Comparison of National Guidelines for Network Meta-Analysis | Create a superset of requirements collated from available national guidelines for the conduct of NMAs | Amaris | UK | Review of literature |
Welton 2020 [45] | Sources and synthesis of evidence; Update to evidence synthesis methods (CHTE2020) | Review existing and emerging methods for synthesising evidence on clinical effectiveness for decision-making in Health Technology Appraisals (HTA), including NMA | NICE Decision Support Unit | UK | NR |