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indirect comparison

— Comparison across studies, in contrast to direct comparison within studies


Full explanation:

A direct comparison is a head-to-head comparison of treatments within a study. If there are no direct comparisons of the treatments of interest, indirect comparisons may be possible. The certainty of the evidence for indirect comparisons is lower than for direct comparisons.

Example:

For example, consider a comparison of two drugs, A and B. Although studies comparing A and B may be unavailable, studies may have compared A to placebo and B to placebo. This makes it possible to indirectly compare the effect of A and B.

See also:

indirectness

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