12.

Forest plot of splitting direct and indirect evidence for the outcome adverse event: renal impairment. In addition to the confidence interval for the network estimate, prediction intervals are shown as bars for each comparison.

Local approach to check inconsistency—comparison of direct and indirect estimates for closed loops. As presented in Figure 9, there is one closed loop in the network (zoledronic acid—clodronate—no treatment/placebo). There is no significant difference between direct and indirect estimate (P value of test for disagreement: P = 0.547).