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. 2017 Dec 15;2017(12):CD011412. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD011412.pub3

12. Pairwise and network meta‐analysis results ‐ Time to six‐month remission of seizures for individuals with partial seizures.

Comparisiona Direct evidence (pairwise meta‐analysis) Direct plus indirect evidence
 (network meta‐analysis)
Number of
 studies Number of
 participants HR (95% CI)b,c I² statisticd Direct
 evidence (%)5 HR (95% CI)b,c
CBZ vs PHB 4 525 1.24 (0.95 to 1.61) 0% 31.3% 0.95 (0.76 to 1.19)
CBZ vs PHT 3 430 0.85 (0.66 to 1.09) 4.2% 23.3% 1.03 (0.88 to 1.20)
CBZ vs VPS 5 816 1.06 (0.90 to 1.25) 56.5% 16.6% 1.10 (0.96 to 1.25)
CBZ vs LTG 7 1535 1.15 (0.89 to 1.48) 0% 26.4% 1.11 (0.98 to 1.27)
CBZ vs OXC 2 555 1.15 (0.65 to 2.04) 0% 16.6% 0.98 (0.82 to 1.18)
CBZ vs TPM 2 925 1.05 (0.64 to 1.72) 0% 8.8% 1.11 (0.96 to 1.28)
CBZ vs GBP 2 943 0.81 (0.52 to 1.27) 0% 73.7% 1.16 (0.99 to 1.35)
CBZ vs LEV 3 1567 1.06 (0.84 to 1.33) 37.9% 20.4% 1.04 (0.93 to 1.16)
CBZ vs ZNS 1 582 1.00 (0.82 to 1.20) NA 100% 1.00 (0.83 to 1.20)
PHB vs PHT 4 465 0.79 (0.60 to 1.05) 0% 31.1% 1.08 (0.85 to 1.37)
PHB vs VPS 2 80 0.67 (0.42 to 1.08) 0% 9.1% 1.15 (0.89 to 1.49)
PHB vs LTG No direct evidence 0% 1.16 (0.90 to 1.52)
PHB vs OXC No direct evidence 0% 1.03 (0.77 to 1.39)
PHB vs TPM No direct evidence 0% 1.16 (0.89 to 1.54)
PHB vs GBP No direct evidence 0% 1.22 (0.93 to 1.59)
PHB vs LEV No direct evidence 0% 1.10 (0.85 to 1.41)
PHB vs ZNS No direct evidence 0% 1.04 (0.78 to 1.41)
PHT vs VPS 5 245 0.90 (0.70 to 1.15) 0% 26.5% 1.06 (0.88 to 1.30)
PHT vs LTG 1 90 0.88 (0.25 to 3.03) NA 1.20% 1.09 (0.88 to 1.32)
PHT vs OXC 2 318 1.21 (0.79 to 1.87) 0% 33.2% 0.95 (0.75 to 1.22)
PHT vs TPM No direct evidence 0% 1.09 (0.88 to 1.33)
PHT vs GBP No direct evidence 0% 1.12 (0.91 to 1.39)
PHT vs LEV No direct evidence 0% 1.02 (0.84 to 1.22)
PHT vs ZNS No direct evidence 0% 0.97 (0.76 to 1.23)
VPS vs LTG 3 221 1.22 (0.97 to 1.52) 0% 32.1% 1.02 (0.85 to 1.22)
VPS vs OXC No direct evidence 0% 0.90 (0.72 to 1.12)
VPS vs TPM 2 111 1.08 (0.87 to 1.34) 0% 61.7% 1.02 (0.83 to 1.23)
VPS vs GBP No direct evidence 0% 1.05 (0.87 to 1.28)
VPS vs LEV 1 190 1.09 (0.88 to 1.33) NA 40.5% 0.95 (0.79 to 1.14)
VPS vs ZNS No direct evidence 0% 0.91 (0.72 to 1.14)
LTG vs OXC 1 499 1.08 (0.27 to 4.32) NA 2.4% 0.88 (0.73 to 1.08)
LTG vs TPM 1 636 0.89 (0.70 to 1.13) NA 1.7% 1.00 (0.85 to 1.18)
LTG vs GBP 1 647 1.46 (0.16 to 13.0) NA 1.6% 1.04 (0.88 to 1.22)
LTG vs LEV 1 240 0.83 (0.59 to 1.17) NA 17.8% 0.93 (0.80 to 1.10)
LTG vs ZNS No direct evidence 0% 0.89 (0.71 to 1.12)
OXC vs TPM 1 487 0.86 (0.26 to 2.86) NA 3.3% 1.14 (0.93 to 1.37)
OXC vs GBP 1 498 1.35 (0.15 to 12.1) NA 2.1% 1.18 (0.96 to 1.43)
OXC vs LEV No direct evidence 0% 1.06 (0.86 to 1.32)
OXC vs ZNS No direct evidence 0% 1.01 (0.78 to 1.32)
TPM vs GBP 1 635 1.56 (0.2 to 12.5) NA 1.6% 1.04 (0.88 to 1.23)
TPM vs LEV No direct evidence 0% 0.93 (0.79 to 1.12)
TPM vs ZNS No direct evidence 0% 0.89 (0.70 to 1.14)
GBP vs LEV No direct evidence 0% 0.90 (0.75 to 1.09)
GBP vs ZNS No direct evidence 0% 0.86 (0.68 to 1.10)
LEV vs ZNS No direct evidence 0% 0.95 (0.77 to 1.19)

CBZ: carbamazepine; CI: confidence interval; GBP: gabapentin; HR: hazard ratio; LEV: levetiracetam; LTG: lamotrigine; OXC: oxcarbazepine; PHB: phenobarbitone; PHT: phenytoin; TPM: topiramate; VPS: sodium valproate; ZNS: zonisamide

aOrder of drugs in the table: most commonly used drug first (carbamazepine), then drugs are ordered approximately by the date they were licenced as a monotherapy treatment (oldest first).
 bHRs and 95% CIs are calculated from fixed‐effect analyses (pairwise and network meta‐analysis); where substantial heterogeneity was present (I2 > 50%), random‐effects meta‐analysis was also conducted, see Effects of interventions for further details.
 cNote that HR < 1 indicates an advantage to the second drug in the comparison; results in highlighted in bold are statistically significant.
 dNA ‐ heterogeneity is not applicable as only one study contributed direct evidence.
 eDirect evidence (%) ‐ proportion of the estimate contributed by direct evidence.