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The effect of disease modifying therapies on disability progression in multiple sclerosis: a systematic overview of meta-analyses
Citation
Claflin, SB and Broadley, S and Taylor, BV, The effect of disease modifying therapies on disability progression in multiple sclerosis: a systematic overview of meta-analyses, Frontiers in Neurology, 9 Article 1150. ISSN 1664-2295 (2019) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2019 Claflin, Broadley and Taylor. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
DOI: doi:10.3389/fneur.2018.01150
Abstract
Objective: Our aim was to better understand and contextualize the results of meta-analyses evaluating DMT, identify differences in methodology that might explain their differing conclusions, and highlight areas for future research that will improve our ability to develop clinical recommendations.
Methods: We conducted an overview of systematic reviews with meta-analyses assessing the efficacy of DMT on disability progression in people with MS in PubMed (Medline) and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
Results: We included 22 meta-analyses in this overview: eight general (on >3 DMT), 11 specific (on ≤3 DMT), 2 that evaluated subsets, and 1 that evaluated long-term effects. We found that there is good evidence that DMT improve short-term (≤2-3 years) disability progression outcomes relative to placebo in people with relapsing-remitting MS. However, results varied substantially between meta-analyses, and there is little evidence of their efficacy in other populations or over longer periods. The relative effects of individual DMT also remain unclear. The variance in results between meta-analyses may be related to the substantial differences in inclusion criteria, which was reflected in the limited overlap in included studies, as well as the year of meta-analysis publication. Of the 123 total unique studies included in the general meta-analyses, 77 (62.6%) were included in only one meta-analysis. This incongruence was also evident in the included DMT. Six of the 16 (37.5%) DMT evaluated in the general meta-analyses were only included in one meta-analysis.
Conclusions: Translating DMT efficacy studies into evidence-based clinical practice requires greater methodological consistency in meta-analyses, more data on the relative effects of DMT through head-to-head clinical trials, and better reporting of adverse events.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | disability progression, disease modifying therapies, meta-analysis, multiple sclerosis, systematic review |
Research Division: | Biomedical and Clinical Sciences |
Research Group: | Neurosciences |
Research Field: | Central nervous system |
Objective Division: | Health |
Objective Group: | Clinical health |
Objective Field: | Clinical health not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | Claflin, SB (Dr Suzi Claflin) |
UTAS Author: | Taylor, BV (Professor Bruce Taylor) |
ID Code: | 131509 |
Year Published: | 2019 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 22 |
Deposited By: | Menzies Institute for Medical Research |
Deposited On: | 2019-03-20 |
Last Modified: | 2020-03-05 |
Downloads: | 29 View Download Statistics |
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