Mixed treatment comparison

A mixed treatment comparison (MTC) is a statistical method that uses both direct evidence (from trials directly comparing the interventions of interest) and indirect evidence (from trials comparing each intervention of interest with a further alternative) to estimate the comparative efficacy and/or safety of interventions for a defined population. The term “mixed” refers to the method’s ability to combine these two types of evidence within a single analysis, creating an “evidence network” where treatments are compared both directly and indirectly. The term network meta-analysis (NMA) is now the more common and general term used to describe this type of statistical method and has largely replaced MTC in academic literature.