Number needed to treat in indirect treatment comparison

For dichotomous outcomes, odds ratio (OR) is one of the usual summary measures of indirect treatment comparison. A corresponding number needed to treat (NNT) estimate may facilitate understanding of the treatment effect. We show how to estimate NNT based on OR results of a matching adjusted indirect...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of comparative effectiveness research 2018-03, Vol.7 (3), p.259-269
Main Authors: Guyot, Patricia, Cheng, Wei, Tremblay, Gabriel, Copher, Ronda, Burnett, Heather, Li, Xuan, Makin, Charles
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
evidence synthesis
indirect treatment comparison
number needed to treat
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Summary:For dichotomous outcomes, odds ratio (OR) is one of the usual summary measures of indirect treatment comparison. A corresponding number needed to treat (NNT) estimate may facilitate understanding of the treatment effect. We show how to estimate NNT based on OR results of a matching adjusted indirect comparison. We also have derived the explicit formula of its 95% CIs by applying the delta method, and as an alternative, a simulation-based method. The method was applied in a case study example in radioiodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (RR-DTC) patients, comparing lenvatinib to sorafenib. For every two RR-DTC patients treated with lenvatinib instead of sorafenib, one fewer would have progressed and for every eight RR-DTC patients treated with lenvatinib instead of sorafenib, one fewer would have died. Using NNT to summarize the results of a matching adjusted indirect comparison can help the clinicians to better understand the results in addition to OR.
ISSN:2042-6305
2042-6313
DOI:10.2217/cer-2017-0023