Supplementary materials: Handling related publications reporting real-world evidence in network meta-analysis: a case study in multiple sclerosis

These are peer-reviewed supplementary materials for the article 'Handling related publications reporting real-world evidence in network meta-analysis: a case study in multiple sclerosis' published in the Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research.Supplementary Table 1: PubMed Search AlgorithmSupplementary Table 2: Embase Search AlgorithmSupplementary Table 3: SLR Eligibility CriteriaSupplementary Figure 1: PRISMA Diagram – SLR AttritionThree-level Meta-analysis Using Hypothetical Data from Related Study Publications of Real-world Evidence DatabasesSupplementary Table 4: Exemplar Scenarios with hypothetical data from 10 studiesData AnalysisAim: The presence of two or more publications that report on overlapping patient cohorts poses a challenge for quantitatively synthesizing real-world evidence (RWE) studies. Thus, we evaluated eight approaches for handling such related publications in network meta-analyses (NMA) of RWE studies. Methods: Bayesian NMAs were conducted to estimate the annualized relapse rate (ARR) of disease modifying therapies in multiple sclerosis. The NMA explored the impact of hierarchically selecting one pivotal study from related publications versus including all of them while adjusting for correlations. Results: When selecting one pivotal study from related publications, the ARR ratios were mostly similar regardless of the pivotal study selected. When including all related publications, there were shifts in the point estimates and the statistical significance. Conclusion: An a priori hierarchy should guide the selection among related publications in NMAs of RWE. Sensitivity analyses modifying the hierarchy should be considered for networks with few or small studies.

本数据集为发表于《比较疗效研究杂志》的论文《处理报道真实世界证据的网络荟萃分析中的相关出版物：多发性硬化症案例研究》的同行评审补充材料。补充表1：PubMed搜索算法；补充表2：Embase搜索算法；补充表3：系统评价的可选标准；补充图1：PRISMA流程图——系统评价的流失；基于相关研究出版物真实世界证据数据库的假设数据的三级荟萃分析；补充表4：包含来自10项研究的假设数据的示例场景；数据分析目标：存在两个或更多报道重叠患者群体的出版物，对定量综合真实世界证据（RWE）研究构成挑战。因此，我们评估了在RWE研究的网络荟萃分析（NMA）中处理此类相关出版物所采用的八种方法。方法：通过贝叶斯NMA来估计多发性硬化症疾病修正疗法的年度化复发率（ARR）。NMA探讨了在调整相关性时，从相关出版物中选择一个关键研究相对于包括所有研究的影响。结果：在选择一个关键研究时，无论选择哪个关键研究，ARR比率大多相似。当包括所有相关出版物时，点估计值和统计显著性发生了变化。结论：在RWE的NMA中选择相关出版物时，应预先建立层次结构。对于研究数量较少或较小的网络，应考虑修改层次结构的敏感性分析。