Department of Continuing Education, University of Oxford, Rewley House, 1, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA.
J Clin Epidemiol. 2014 Feb;67(2):138-43. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2013.07.014. Epub 2013 Oct 3.
To identify and summarize published systematic reviews that report results of meta-analyses that combined direct and indirect comparisons.
Narrative review of mixed treatment comparisons (MTCs) reported in systematic reviews of health interventions. MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-Process, Embase, CINAHL, DARE, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and SIGLE were searched for reviews published up to June 2012 in which a meta-analysis had been conducted that combined direct and indirect comparisons among more than two interventions.
Reviews reporting MTCs are difficult to identify when searching major databases. These databases offer no way to identify MTCs, and authors use various names when reporting them. Of the 201 eligible reviews identified, more than three-quarters had been published in full. MTC methods have been used to study a wide range of clinical topics. The reported use of these methods has increased rapidly since 2009, and results from MTCs are commonly used in health policy decisions, through the evidence considered in health technology assessments.
In view of the increasing use of MTCs, indexing of this study type in databases and a consensus on terminology and standards for conduct and reporting would be timely.
识别并总结发表的系统评价，这些评价报告了综合直接和间接比较的荟萃分析结果。
对健康干预措施系统评价中报告的混合治疗比较（MTC）进行叙述性综述。检索了截至 2012 年 6 月发表的文献，包括 MEDLINE、MEDLINE 正在处理中、Embase、CINAHL、DARE、Cochrane 系统评价数据库和 SIGLE，其中包含对超过两种干预措施进行直接和间接比较的荟萃分析的综述。
在主要数据库中搜索时，很难识别报告 MTC 的综述。这些数据库无法识别 MTC，作者在报告时使用了各种名称。在 201 篇合格的综述中，超过四分之三的综述已全文发表。MTC 方法已被用于研究广泛的临床主题。自 2009 年以来，这些方法的报告使用迅速增加，并且 MTC 的结果通常被用于卫生技术评估中的卫生政策决策。
鉴于 MTC 的使用日益增加，在数据库中对这种研究类型进行索引，并就进行和报告的术语和标准达成共识，将是及时的。
