Description

R package netmeta provides frequentist methods for network meta-analysis and supports Schwarzer et al. (2015), Chapter 8 on network meta-analysis https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319214153.

Details

R package netmeta is an add-on package for meta providing the following meta-analysis methods:

• frequentist network meta-analysis (function netmeta) based on Rücker (2012) and Rücker & Schwarzer (2014);

• net heat plot (netheat) and design-based decomposition of Cochran's Q (decomp.design) described in Krahn et al. (2013);

• measures characterizing the flow of evidence between two treatments (netmeasures) described in König et al. (2013);

• ranking of treatments (netrank) based on frequentist analogue of SUCRA (Rücker & Schwarzer, 2015);

• partial order of treatment rankings (netposet, plot.netposet) and Hasse diagram (hasse) according to Carlsen & Bruggemann (2014) and Rücker & Schwarzer (2017);

• split direct and indirect evidence (netsplit) to check for consistency (Dias et al., 2010; Efthimiou et al., 2019);

• league table with network meta-analysis results (netleague);

• additive network meta-analysis for combinations of treatments (netcomb, discomb for disconnected networks) (Rücker et al., 2019);

• network meta-analysis of binary data (netmetabin) using the Mantel-Haenszel or non-central hypergeometric distribution method (Efthimiou et al., 2019);

• ‘comparison-adjusted’ funnel plot (funnel.netmeta) to assess funnel plot asymmetry in network meta-analysis (Chaimani & Salanti, 2012)

• automated drawing of network graphs (netgraph.netmeta) described in Rücker & Schwarzer (2016);

• results of several network meta-analyses can be combined with netbind to show these results in a forest plot.

Furthermore, functions and datasets from netmeta are utilised in Schwarzer et al. (2015), Chapter 8 "Network Meta-Analysis", https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319214153.

Type help(package = "netmeta") for a listing of all R functions available in netmeta.

Type citation("netmeta") on how to cite netmeta in publications.

To report problems and bugs

• type bug.report(package = "netmeta") if you do not use RStudio,

• send an email to Guido Schwarzer sc@imbi.uni-freiburg.de if you use RStudio.

The development version of netmeta is available on GitHub https://github.com/guido-s/netmeta.

Author(s)

Guido Schwarzer sc@imbi.uni-freiburg.de, Gerta Rücker ruecker@imbi.uni-freiburg.de

References

Carlsen L, Bruggemann R (2014): Partial order methodology: a valuable tool in chemometrics. Journal of Chemometrics, 28, 226–34

Chaimani A & Salanti G (2012): Using network meta-analysis to evaluate the existence of small-study effects in a network of interventions. Research Synthesis Methods, 3, 161–76

Dias S, Welton NJ, Caldwell DM, Ades AE (2010): Checking consistency in mixed treatment comparison meta-analysis. Statistics in Medicine, 29, 932–44

Efthimiou O, Rücker G, Schwarzer G, Higgins J, Egger M, Salanti G (2019): A Mantel-Haenszel model for network meta-analysis of rare events. Statistics in Medicine, 1–21, https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.8158

König J, Krahn U, Binder H (2013): Visualizing the flow of evidence in network meta-analysis and characterizing mixed treatment comparisons. Statistics in Medicine, 32, 5414–29

Krahn U, Binder H, König J (2013): A graphical tool for locating inconsistency in network meta-analyses. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 13, 35

Rücker G (2012): Network meta-analysis, electrical networks and graph theory. Research Synthesis Methods, 3, 312–24

Rücker G, Schwarzer G (2014): Reduce dimension or reduce weights? Comparing two approaches to multi-arm studies in network meta-analysis. Statistics in Medicine, 33, 4353–69

Rücker G, Schwarzer G (2015): Ranking treatments in frequentist network meta-analysis works without resampling methods. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 15, 58

Rücker G, Schwarzer G (2016): Automated drawing of network plots in network meta-analysis. Research Synthesis Methods, 7, 94–107

Rücker G, Schwarzer G (2017): Resolve conflicting rankings of outcomes in network meta-analysis: Partial ordering of treatments. Research Synthesis Methods, 8, 526–36

Rücker G, Petropoulou M, Schwarzer G (2019): Network meta-analysis of multicomponent interventions. Biometrical Journal, 1–14, https://doi.org/10.1002/bimj.201800167

Schwarzer G, Carpenter JR and Rücker G (2015): Meta-Analysis with R (Use-R!). Springer International Publishing, Switzerland.