netdose: Dose-Response Network Meta-Analysis in a Frequentist Way

Description

netdose is an R package for conducting Dose-Response Network Meta-Analysis (DR-NMA) in the frequentist framework. It supports multiple dose-response functions, including linear, exponential, fractional polynomials, and restricted cubic splines.

Installation

You can install the netdose package from GitHub repository as follows:

Installation using R package remotes:

install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("petropouloumaria/netdose")

Usage

You can load the netdose package.

library("netdose")

Use the anesthesia dataset from netdose package. This dataset is a synthesis of randomized controlled studies investigating the effects of different agents for preventing vomiting in adults after general anaesthesia. The outcome is the occurrence of vomiting within 24 hours after surgery. Multicomponent interventions have been excluded from this subset to focus on single-agent interventions and their dose-response relationships.

References:

Weibel S, Rücker G, Eberhart LHJ, et al. Drugs for preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting in adults after general anaesthesia: a network meta-analysis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2020;10(10):CD012859.

Weibel S, Schaefer MS, Raj D, et al. Drugs for preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting in adults after general anaesthesia: an abridged Cochrane network meta-analysis. Anaesthesia. 2021;76:962-973.

Transform data from arm-based to contrast-based format using the function pairwise from meta package.

dat <- pairwise(
  agent = list(agent1, agent2, agent3, agent4, agent5),
  event = list(event1, event2, event3, event4, event5),
  n = list(n1, n2, n3, n4, n5),
  dose = list(dose1, dose2, dose3, dose4, dose5),
  data = anesthesia,
  studlab = study
)

Perform the DR-NMA model with different dose-response functions.

Linear Dose-Response NMA Model

dr_l <- netdose(TE, seTE, agent1, dose1, agent2, dose2, 
   studlab, data = dat)

Exponential Dose-Response NMA Model

dr_exp <- netdose(TE, seTE, agent1, dose1, agent2, dose2, 
   studlab, data = dat, method = "exponential")

Fractional Polynomial (FP1) with power p = 0.5

dr_fp1_p05 <- netdose(TE, seTE, agent1, dose1, agent2, dose2, 
   studlab, data = dat, method = "fp1", param = 0.5)

Restricted Cubic Splines (RCS) with knots k = (0.1, 0.5, 0.9)

dr_rcs <- netdose(TE, seTE, agent1, dose1, agent2, dose2, 
   studlab, data = dat, method = "rcs")

Predicting Dose-Response Relationships

Predicted Values for Different DR-NMA Models (exponential, FP1 (p = 0.5), RCS (k = (0.1, 0.5, 0.9)))

predict(dr_exp)
predict(dr_fp1_p05)
predict(dr_rcs)

Visualizing Dose-Response Relationships

plot(dr_exp)
plot(dr_fp1_p05)
plot(dr_rcs)

License

This package is released under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or any later version.