Σύγκριση μεθόδων

	Μετα-αναλυτική Κλινική Δοκιμή Φάσης III	Ανάλυση Δικτύου Μετα-ανάλυσης
Πεδίο	Επιδημιολογία	Σύνθεση Τεκμηρίων
Οικογένεια	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Έτος προέλευσης	1976 (meta-analysis); systematic application to Phase III RCTs from 1990s onward	2002
Δημιουργός	Glass, G. V. (meta-analysis formalized); applied to Phase III trials via Cochrane Collaboration (Chalmers, Altman, Higgins)	Lumley (2002)
Τύπος	Systematic quantitative evidence synthesis	Method
Θεμελιώδης πηγή	Whitehead, A. (2002). Meta-Analysis of Controlled Clinical Trials. Wiley. ISBN: 978-0471983705	Lumley, T. (2002). Network meta-analysis for indirect treatment comparisons. Statistics in Medicine, 21(16), 2313–2324.
Εναλλακτικές ονομασίες	Phase III meta-analysis, pooled Phase III analysis, systematic review of Phase III RCTs, confirmatory meta-analysis	Mixed Treatment Comparison, MTC, Indirect Comparison Meta-Analysis
Συναφείς	3	1
Σύνοψη	A meta-analytic Phase III clinical trial is a systematic, quantitative synthesis of multiple Phase III randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the same intervention. By pooling confirmatory trial data under a pre-registered protocol, the approach yields more precise effect estimates, resolves conflicting findings across trials, and supports regulatory or clinical guideline decisions with the highest level of evidence available in the evidence hierarchy.	Network meta-analysis (NMA) is a systematic method for comparing multiple interventions simultaneously within a single analytical framework, incorporating both direct evidence (head-to-head trials) and indirect evidence (comparisons via common comparators). First formalized by Lumley in 2002, NMA allows researchers to rank treatments and quantify comparative effectiveness even when some treatment pairs have never been directly studied.