Identifying Potential Adverse Events Dose-Response Relationships Via Bayesian Indirect and Mixed Treatment Comparison Models

Patients and prescribers need to be fully informed regarding the safety profile of approved medications. This includes knowledge and information regarding whether an adverse event of interest exhibits a potential dose-response relationship. In order to thoroughly evaluate whether an adverse event rate increases with increasing dose level, evidence from multiple clinical trials needs to be combined and analyzed. The various clinical trials that need to be combined often include different dose levels. If one evaluates the dose-response relationship by including only the trials with all of the common dose levels, this will lead to the exclusion of potentially several clinical trials as well as dose levels, and thus the loss of important information. Other methods, such as crudely pooling patients on the same dose level across different studies, are subject to bias due to the breakdown of randomization. It is preferable to include all studies and relevant dose levels, even if all studies do not contain the sa...