1. how many meta-analyses in biomedical topics have used Bayesian methods?
2. how reproducible are the meta-analyses:
2a. is code provided?
2b. are data provided?
2c. is the software version named? What software was used, and is it open-source?
3. what "ancestors" [Arksey & O'Malley] are cited for Bayesian MA?
4. what problems is it used for?
5. do the authors report it as successful?
6. what sort of model is employed?
7. what sort of priors are employed?
8a. did they use both frequentist and Bayesian versions of the same analysis?
8b. if so, do they justify this?
9. which specialisms and/or disease areas have made use of Bayes MA?


medline 45 CMRO 30(8): A network meta-analysis of the efficacy of belatacept, cyclosporine and tacrolimus for immunosuppression therapy in adult renal transplant recipients
2a no
2b yes
2c no
3 report of the ispor task force (Value Health 2011;14:417-28&429-37.)
4 nma, reporting prob of each tx being best
5 yes
6 nma + meta-regression (logistic and linear for diff outcomes)
7 'uninformed' + some change to explore assumptions about tau (no clearer than that; details form authors on request)
8a yes
8b pairwise and multiple comparisons; pairwise is to allow comparison with previously published MA


medline 55 CMRO 30(6): Comparative efficacy, acceptability, and safety of medicinal, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and placebo treatments for acute major depressive disorder in children and adolescents: a multiple-treatments meta-analysis
2a no
2b yes
2c WinBUGS
3 Salanti SMMR2008;17:279-301.
4 nma, reporting prob of each tx being best
5 yes
6 multiple treatments meta analysis ("MTM")
7 not mentioned
8a yes
8b not stated


medline 73 CMRO 30(3): Comparison of the efficacy and safety of low molecular weight heparins for venous
thromboembolism prophylaxis in medically ill patients.
2a no
2b yes
2c WinBUGS
3 Lu & Ades 2004
4 nma
5 mixed
6 random
7 not mentioned
8a yes
8b 'to determine the relative efficacy and safety'


medline 122 CMRO 29(8): The efficacy and tolerability of perampanel and other recently approved
anti-epileptic drugs for the treatment of refractory partial onset seizure: a
systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.
2a no
2b somewhat; only in the basic Stata plots
2c WinBUGS
3 Bucher JClinEpi1997;50:683-91.
4 nma
5 yes
6 fixed and random effects, compared by DIC. BGR for convergence. Some sensitivity analyses for inclusion of data.
7 "non-informative or vague"
8a yes
8b not stated


medline 152 Int J Vitam Nutr Res 83(2): Protective effects of vitamin E on chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
2a
2b
2c
3
4
5
6
7
8a
8b


medline 179 Thomb Haemost 108(2): Network meta-analysis of prasugrel, ticagrelor, high- and standard-dose
clopidogrel in patients scheduled for percutaneous coronary interventions.
2a no
2b no
2c WinBUGS
3 Jones, Roger PharmStat2011;10:523-31. Sutton & Abrams 2001. NICE DSU. ISPOR.
4 nma
5 yes
6 not stated , BGR for convergence
7 'noninformative previous distributions'
8a yes
8b ranking probabilities


medline 203 Opthalmology 119(3): Age and gender variations in age-related macular degeneration prevalence in
populations of European ancestry: a meta-analysis.
2a no
2b not enough
2c WinBUGS
3 none given except previous applied work by authors
4 accounting for age subgroups where not all studies report all groups, and for study characteristics contributing to heterogeneity
5 yes
6 hierarchical, with study characteristics as covariates, and results broken down by age groups (hence heirarchical)
7 noninformative normal / gamma
8a no
8b


medline 212 J Clin Psychopharmacol 31(6): A Review and Bayesian Meta-Analysis of Clinical Efficacy and Adverse Effects of 4 Atypical Neuroleptic Drugs Compared With Haloperidol and Placebo
2a no; some algebra in appendix but not all aspects of the model are addressed
2b no
2c no
3 only spiegelhalter, myles, jones 1999 (generic bayesian overview)
4 nma + ranking prob
5 yes
6 random intercept (reading between the lines)
7 uniform
8a no
8b


medline 217 HIV Clin Trials 12(4): Comparative effectiveness of efavirenz, protease inhibitors, and
raltegravir-based regimens as first-line treatment for HIV-infected adults: a
mixed treatment comparison.
2a
2b
2c
3
4
5
6
7
8a
8b


medline 230 Curr Drug Targets 12(2): Pharmacological treatments for neovascular age-related macular degeneration: can mixed treatment comparison meta-analysis be useful?
2a
2b
2c
3
4
5
6
7
8a
8b


medline 237 CMRO 27(1): Mixed treatment comparison of a two-compound formulation (TCF) product containing
calcipotriol and betamethasone dipropionate with other topical treatments in
psoriasis vulgaris.
2a
2b
2c
3
4
5
6
7
8a
8b


medline 250 CMRO 26(7): Comparative effectiveness of antibiotics for the treatment of MRSA complicated skin and soft tissue infections.
2a yes (algebra)
2b yes
2c WinBUGS
3 Warn, Thompson, Spiegelhalter 2002; Stangl & Berry 2000 (book); Sutton et al 2000 (book)
4 nma
5 yes
6 random effects nma
7 vague normal for average pt characteristics but gamma(1,1) for dose effects assumed to be directional
8a no
8b


medline 252 CMRO 26(5): Efficacy of vitamin D3 supplementation in preventing fractures in elderly women: a meta-analysis.
2a
2b
2c
3
4
5
6
7
8a
8b


medline 258 CMRO 26(1): Comparative efficacy and acceptability of pharmacotherapeutic agents for anxiety
disorders in children and adolescents: a mixed treatment comparison
meta-analysis.
2a no
2b yes
2c WinBUGS
3 Caldwell, Ades, Higgins 2005; Lu, Ades 2004; Cooper et al Arch INtern Med 2006;166:1269-75.
4 mtc + rank prob
5 yes but caution about RCTs not powered for adverse events
6 not stated
7 not stated
8a no
8b


medline 268 Med Care 47(10): Modeling the value for money of changing clinical practice change: a stochastic application in diabetes care.
2a no
2b posisbly in appendix A at http://links.lww.com/A1243
2c WinBUGS
3 Cooper, Sutton, Abrams. Health Econ 2004;13:203-226.
4 MA + cost-effectiveness acceptability
5 yes (but the effectiveness data are from 2 studies, and there are strong assumptions in the costs)
6 random effects
7 not stated
8a no
8b


medline 277 Eur J Gastroenter Hepatol 21(3): Spontaneous regression of hepatocellular carcinoma: a systematic review.
2a
2b
2c
3
4
5
6
7
8a
8b


medline 283 J Am Coll Cardiol 53(4): Meta-analysis of the relationship between non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol reduction and coronary heart disease risk.
2a no
2b yes
2c WinBUGS
3 Smith, Spiegelhalter, Thomas 1995
4 MA adjusting for study duration
5 yes
6 random effects. Bayes factors.
7 vague
8a no but they used Cochran's Q to get a sig/non-sig decision on heterogeneity, which seems odd.
8b


medline 296 J Biopharm Stat 18(6): A Bayesian meta-analysis on published sample mean and variance pharmacokinetic data with application to drug-drug interaction prediction.
LARGELY METHODOLOGICAL
2a no
2b no
2c not clear, possibly from scratch, using R
3 StatMed 2007;26:3700-21.
4 PK
5 yes
6 "three-level hierarchical Bayesian meta-analysis" (but the three include prior distributions ???)
7 not clear: derived generally because of th methodological focus
8a no
8b


medline 306 CMRO 23(9): Comparison of pegfilgrastim with filgrastim on febrile neutropenia, grade IV neutropenia and bone pain: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
PROBABLY NOT RELEVANT - "CONSERVATIVE EMPIRICAL BAYES METHOD OF HEDGES AND OLKIN"
2a
2b
2c
3
4
5
6
7
8a
8b


medline 315 Int J Technol Assess Health Care 22(4): Reanalysis of systematic reviews: the case of invasive strategies for acute coronary syndromes.
2a
2b
2c
3
4
5
6
7
8a
8b


cinahl 1 JHSRP 14(4): A Bayesian method for the synthesis of evidence from qualitative and quantitative reports: the example of antiretroviral medication adherence.
2a
2b
2c
3
4
5
6
7
8a
8b


cinahl 4 CMRO 30(8): A network meta-analysis of the efficacy of belatacept, cyclosporine and tacrolimus for immunosuppression therapy in adult renal transplant recipients.
2a no
2b yes
2c not stated
3 Dias Sutton & Ades. Med Decis Mak  2013
4 nma
5 yes
6 nma
7 not stated
8a yes
8b not clear


cinahl 12 CNS Spectrums: The International Journal of Neuropsychiatric Medicine (CNS SPECTRUMS) 17 (3): An indirect comparison of the efficacy and safety of desvenlafaxine and venlafaxine using placebo as the common comparator.
2a
2b
2c
3
4
5
6
7
8a
8b
