Network
meta-analysis (NMA), called multiple treatment meta-analysis or mixed treatment comparisons, was created as a pair meta-analysis extension to enable comparisons of more than two interventions in a single, coherent analysis of all related randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Its main advantages are that, in a single study, it provides accurate estimates of the relative effects of all treatments compared to each other using both direct and indirect data, thus correctly integrating the relative impact of trials with more than two arms. This results in greater precision of treatment effect estimates and the ability to rank all the interventions coherently. This results in higher accuracy of treatment effect estimates and the ability to list all the responses cohesively.