Table 1.

Characteristics of the fourteen network meta-analyses.

Network	Outcome	No. of studies	No. of treatments	Treatment names (abbreviations) [weighted degree], sorted by weighted degree (largest to smallest)	Total no. of participants	Total no. of events	Naïve absolute risk^#	Total no. of treatment groups	Total no. of treatment groups with zero events	Ineligible treatment removal		Smallest weighted degree^*	Largest Weighted degree
Network	Outcome	No. of studies	No. of treatments		Total no. of participants	Total no. of events	Naïve absolute risk^#	Total no. of treatment groups	Total no. of treatment groups with zero events	Arm-based model	Contrast- based model	Smallest weighted degree^*	Largest Weighted degree
Ara 2009¹⁹	Adverse event leading to drug discontinuation	11	5	Atorvastatin 80 mg/day (ATO 80) [9]; Simvastatin 40 mg/day (SIM 40) [8]; Simvastatin 80 mg/day (SIM 80) [7]; Rosuvastatin 40 mg/day (ROS 40) [5]; Placebo [3].	24,793	1,155	0.047	24	2		SIM 40; ATO 80; SIM 80	3	9
Ballesteros 2005²⁰	Efficacy of antidepressants in dysthymia	9	4	Placebo [12]; Tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) [8]; Monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) [5]; Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) [5].	1,386	663	0.478	21	0		Placebo	5	12
Bucher 1997²¹	Number of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia	18	4	Aerosolized pentamidine (AP) [14]; Trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) [13]; Dapsone/pyrimethamine (D/P) [5]; Dapsone (D) [4].	3,416	248	0.073	36	4		AP; TMP-SMX	4	14
Cipriani 2009¹³	Unipolar major depression	111	12	Fluoxetine (FLU) [54]; Paroxetine (PAR) [32]; Sertraline (SER) [28]; Venlafaxine (VEN) [27]; Escitalopram (ESC) [17]; Citalopram (CIT) [14]; Mirtazapine (MIR) [13]; Bupropion (BUP) [12]; Fluvoxamine (FVX) [11]; Duloxetine (DUL) [8]; Reboxetine (REB) [8]; Milnacipran (MIL) [6].	24,595	13,951	0.567	224	0			6	54
Eisenberg 2008²²	Smoking abstinence	61	5	Placebo [64]; Transdermal nicotine (TN) [23]; Nicotine gum (NG) [20]; Bupropion (BUP) [18]; Varenicline (VAR) [9].	26,750	3,908	0.146	125	0	Placebo	Placebo	9(9)^§	64(23)^§
Elliott 2007²³	The proportion of patients who developed diabetes	22	6	β blocker (BB) [12]; Calcium-channel blocker (CCB) [12]; Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) [11]; Placebo [10]; Thiazide diuretic (TD) [10]; Angiotensin-receptor blocker (ARB) [5].	154,176	10,962	0.071	48	0			5	12
Lu 2006^5,24	Smoking cessation	24	4	Individual counselling (IC) [21]; No contact [20]; Group counselling (GC) [8]; Self-help [7].	16,737	2,072	0.124	50	2			7	32
Lu 2009^6,25,26	Gastroesophageal reflux disease	40	6	H₂ receptor antagonist (H2RA) [34]; Proton pump inhibitor (PPI) [17]; Placebo [14]; PPI double dose (PPI-D) [13]; Prokinetic agent (PA) [6]; H2RA double dose (H2RA-D) [4].	4,626	2,273	0.491	82	4		H2RA	4	34
Middleton 2010²⁷	Patients’ dissatisfaction	20	4	“First generation” endometrial destruction techniques (FG) [17]; “Second generation” endometrial destruction techniques (SG) [14]; Hysterectomy (HYST) [5]; Mirena (MIR) [4].	2,886	342	0.119	40	0	FG	FG; SG	4(4)^§	17(14)^§
Mills 2009²⁸	Smoking abstinence at at-least 4 weeks post-target quit date	89	4	Control [92]; Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) [49]; Bupropion (BUP) [39]; Varenicline (VAR) [10].	29,525	10,847	0.367	181	1		Control	10	92
Picard 2000²⁹	Pain on injection with propofol	43	8	Placebo [48]; Lidocaine (mg) mixed with propofol 200 mg (LIDm) [26]; Lidocaine (mg) given before the injection of propofol (LIDb) [19]; No treatment (No Trt) [19]; Opioids (OPI) [19]; Lidocaine (mg) with tourniquet (LID+TOU) [13]; Temperature (TEM) [13]; Metoclopramide (MET) [7].	4,495	2,400	0.534	104	2			7	48
Puhan 2009³⁰	Exacerbation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	34	5	Placebo [44]; Long-acting beta-agonists (BA) [33]; Inhaled corticosteroids (IC) [24]; Combined treatment with a long-acting beta-agonist and an inhaled corticosteroid (CT) [20]; Long-acting anticholinergics (AC) [11].	26,789	7,200	0.269	81	1			11	44
Thijs 2008³¹	Efficacy of antiplatelet	23	5	Aspirin (ASA) [22]; Placebo [16]; Aspirin and dipyridamole (ASA+DP) [10]; Thienopyridines (ticlopidin or clopidogrel, THI) [7]; THI+ASA [3].	42,666	6,830	0.160	49	0		ASA; THI	3	22
Trikalinos 2009³²	Non-acute coronary artery disease	62	4	Bare-metal stents (BMS) [52]; Percutaneous transluminal balloon coronary angioplasty (PTCA) [43]; Drug-eluting stents (DES) [16]; Medical therapy (MT) [13].	26,521	821	0.031	124	22	BMS	BMS	13(13)^§	52(43)^§

Naïve absolute risk is calculated as the ratio of the total No. of Events compared to the total No. of Participants.

Weighted degree of a node (treatment) is the sum of weights (the number of pairwise comparisons between two treatments) on all edges incident to that node.

^§

In each of these three networks, one particular treatment is not removed to remain network connectivity; the numbers in parentheses are given without accounting for these treatments.