Appendix Table 2.

Characteristics of networks with at least one closed loop included in the database. We define N the total number of studies and T the total number of treatments included in each network. (NMA = network meta-analysis; GLM = generalized linear model, HR = hazard ratio, RR = risk ratio, OR = odds ratio, RD = risk difference).

id	Network	loops	N	T	Disease/ Condition	Outcome	Type of Treatments	2arm trials	3arm trials	4arm trials	Indirect Method	Effect Measure used by reviewers
1	Ades1	3	15	9	Schizophrenia	Relapse	Antipsychotic treatments	15	0	0	Bayesian NMA	HR
2	Ara2	5	12	5	Hypercholesterolaemi a	Effectiveness in reducing LDL-c.	Statins	10	0	1	Bayesian NMA	RR
3	Baker3	12	39	8	Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD>=1)	Exacebration episodes	Pharmacological treatments	29	3	6	Bayesian NMA	OR
4	Ballesteros4	2	9	4	Dysthymia	Efficacy (50% reduction in depressive symptoms since baseline, or similar criteria)	Antidepressants	6	3	0	GLM	OR, RR, RD
5	Bangalore5	18	49	8	High blood pressure	Cancer and cancer-related deaths	Antihypertensive drugs	45	4	0	Bayesian NMA	OR
6	Bansback6	2	22	8	Moderate to severe plaque psoriasis	Psoriasis area and severity index (PASI)	Treatments for psoriasis	21	1	0	Bayesian NMA	RR
7	Bottomley7	4	10	7	Moderately severe scalp psoriasis	Investigator’s global assessment	Topical therapies	8	1	1	Meta-regression	RR
8	Brown8	6	40	6	Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced gastrointestinal toxicity	Serious GI complications	Pharmacological interventions	36	2	0	Bucher	RR
9	Bucher9	2	18	4	Pseudocystis carinii in HIV infected patients	Number of pseudocystis carinii pneumonia (prophylaxis against pneumocystis carinii in HIV infected patients)	Pharmacological prophylaxis for pseudocystis carinii	18	0	0	Bucher	OR
10	Cipriani10	70	111	12	Unipolar major depression in adults	The proportion of patients who responded to or dropped out of the allocated treatment	Antidepressants	109	2	0	Bayesian NMA	OR
11	Dias11	11	50	9	Acute myocardial infraction	Death	Thrombolytic drugs and angioplasty	48	2	0	NMA for trial-level and summary-level data	OR
12	Eisenberg12	1	61	5	Smoking	Smoking abstinence	Pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation	59	3	0	Bayesian NMA	OR
13	Elliott13	16	22	6	Hypertension, high-risk patients	Proportion of patients who developed diabetes.	Antihypertensive drugs	18	4	0	GLM	OR
14	Govan14	2	31	5	Stroke	Death	Types of stroke unit care	25	3	0	Bayesian NMA	OR
15	Hofmeyr15	1	24	4	Postpartum haemorrhage	Maternal death	Misoprostol or other uterotonic medication	18	1	0	Bucher	RR
16	Imamura16	26	38	13	Stress urinary incontinence	Cure	Non surgical treatments	31	5	2	Bayesian NMA	OR
17	Lam17	3	12	5	Left ventricular dysfunction	Mortality	Combined resynchronisation and implantable defibrillator therapy	9	2	0	Bayesian NMA	OR
18	Lapitan18	5	22	9	Urinary incontinence in women	Number not cured within first year	Treatments for urinary incontinence in women	19	2	1	Not reported	RR
19	Lu (1)19	4	24	4	Smoking	Cessation	Smoking cessation interventions	22	2	0	Bayesian NMA	OR
20	Lu (2)19	4	40	6	Gastroesophageal reflux disease	Effectiveness	Gastroesophageal reflux disease therapies	38	2	0	Bayesian NMA	OR
21	Macfayden22	2	13	4	Chronically discharging ears with underlying eardrum perforations	Resolution of discharge	Topical antibiotics without steroids	10	3	0	Not reported	RR
22	Middleton23	1	20	4	Heavy menstrual bleeding	Dissatisfaction at 12 months	Second line treatment	20	0	0	Logistic regression	OR
23	Mills24	2	89	4	Smoking	Abstinence from smoking at at least 4 weeks post-target quit date	Pharmacotherapies	86	3	0	Bucher	OR
24	Nixon25	2	11	9	Rheumatoid arthritis	American college of rheumatology (ACR) response criteria at 6 months or beyond	Cytokine antagonists	10	1	0	NMA & meta-regression	OR
25	Picard26	33	43	8	Pain on injection with propofol	No pain	Drugs, physical measurements, and combinations	28	12	3	Not reported	RR
26	Playford27	1	10	5	Fungal infections in solid organ transplant recipients	Mortality	Antifungal agents	10	0	0	Not reported	RR
27	Psaty28	10	28	7	Coronary heart disease (CHD)	Fatal and nonfatal events	Antihypertensive therapy	24	4	0	GLM	RR
28	Puhan29	7	34	5	Stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	Exacerbation	Inhaled drug regimes	27	1	6	Logistic regression	OR
29	Roskell (1)31	6	17	11	Atrial fibrillation	Stroke prevention	Anticoagulants	15	1	1	Mixed log-binomial model	RR
30	Roskell (2)30	3	12	10	Fibromyalgia	30% improvement in pain response	Pharmacological interventions	6	6	0	Mixed log-binomial model	RR
31	Salliot32	1	15	5	Rheumatoid arthritis (with inadequate response to conventional disease-modifying AR drugs or to anti-tumour necrosis factor agent)	ACR50 response rate	Biological antirheumatic agents	14	1	0	Bucher	OR
32	Sciarretta33	13	26	8	Heart fealure	Prevention of heart failure	Antihypertensive treatments	24	2	0	Bayesian NMA	OR
33	Soares-Weiser34	4	14	8	Bipolar disorder	All relapses	Pharmacological interventions for the prevention of relapse in people with bipolar disorder	10	4	0	Logistic regression & Bayesian NMA	OR
34	Thijs35	3	24	5	Transient ischaemic attack or stroke	Prevention of serious vascular events	Antiplatelets	20	3	0	GLM	OR
35	Trikalinos36	1	63	4	Non-acute coronary artery disease	Death	Percutaneous coronary interventions	62	0	0	GLM	RR
36	Virgili37	1	10	5	Neovascular age-related macular degeneration	Visual acuity loss	Pharmacological Treatments	10	0	0	Logistic regression & Bayesian NMA	OR
37	Wang38	4	43	9	Catheter-related infections	Catheter colonisation	Different central venous catheters	41	2	0	Bayesian NMA	OR
38	Welton39	4	36	17	Coronary heart disease	All-cause mortality	Psychological Interventions	31	4	0	Logistic regression & Bayesian NMA	OR
39	Woo40	3	19	10	Chronic hepatidis B	HBV DNA levels	Nucleostides	16	3	0	Bayesian NMA	OR
40	Yu41	5	14	6	Cardiac surgery	Cardiac ischemic complications and mortality	Inhaled anesthetics	11	2	1	Not reported	OR