Professor Alex Sutton

I am a medical statistician with a current interest in developing methods for data visualisation interactive digital web content to facilitate statistical analyses and using synthesis to inform the design of future studies. I have worked in evidence synthesis (including meta-analysis and network meta-analysis) for 25+ years and authored 200+ publications; a combination of methodological work and substantive applications. My involvement in substantive analyses often motivates subsequent methodological work. My h-index is 88.

I have worked in the area of evidence synthesis for over 25 years and made contributions to statistical methodology novel data visualisations software and numerous substantive applications. I use both frequentist and Bayesian approaches to statistical inference.

1. Xin Y*, Nevill CR*, Nevill J, Gray E, Cooper NJ, Bradbury N, Sutton AJ. MetaInsight COVID-19 edition: A network meta-analysis tool for stakeholder exploration, re-analysis and sensitivity analysis from living systematic reviews. BMC Med Res Methods. 2021:???? (* Joint 1st Author)

2. da Costa B R, Pereira T V, Saadat P, Rudnicki M, Iskander S M, Bodmer N S Pavlos Bobos P, Gao L, Kiyomoto HD, Montezuma T, Almeida MO, Cheng P-S, Hincapié CA, Hari R, Sutton AJ, Tugwell P, Hawker GA, Jüni P. Effectiveness and safety of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and opioid treatment for knee and hip osteoarthritis: network meta-analysis BMJ 2021; 375 :n2321 doi:10.1136/bmj.n2321

3. Doleman, B., Freeman, S., Lund, J., Williams, J., Sutton, A.J. Funnel plots may show asymmetry in the absence of publication bias with continuous outcomes dependent on baseline risk: presentation of a new publication bias test. Research Synthesis Methods 2020; 11:522-534.  DOI: 10.1002/jrsm.14

4. Freeman, S., Kerby, C.R., Patel, A., Cooper, N.J., Quinn, T., Sutton A.J. Development of an interactive web-based tool to conduct and interrogate meta-analysis of diagnostic test accuracy studies: MetaDTA.  BMC Med Res Methods. 2019 19:81 (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-019-0724-x)

5. Takwoingi, Y., Hopewell, S., Tovey, D., Sutton, A.J. A multicomponent decision tool for prioritising the updating of systematic reviews BMJ 2013;347:f7191.

6. Sterne, J.A.C., Sutton, A., Ioannidis J, Terrin N, Jones DR, Lau J, Carpenter J, Rucker G, Harbord R, Schmid CH,  Tetzlaff J, Deeks J, Peters J, Macaskill P, Schwarzer G, Duval S, Altman DG, Moher D,  Higgins, JRT  Recommendations for examining and interpreting funnel plot asymmetry in meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.  BMJ. 2011;1912;1:1345-1350 doi:10.1136/bmj.1.2685.1345

7. Moreno, S.G., Sutton, A.J., Turner, E.H., Ades, A.E., Abrams, K.R., Cooper, N.J., Palmer, T.M. Novel methods to deal with publication biases: secondary analysis of antidepressant trials in the FDA trial registry database and related journal publications. BMJ 2009;339:b2981

8. Sutton, A.J., Cooper, N.J., Goodacre, S., Stevenson, M. Integration of meta-analysis and economic decision modelling for evaluating diagnostic tests. Medical Decision Making 2008: 28; 650-667.

9. Sutton, A.J., Kendrick, D., Coupland, C.A.C. Meta-analysis of individual- and aggregate-level data. Statistics in Medicine 2008; 27:651-669.

10. Sutton, A.J., Cooper, N.J. Jones, D.R., Abrams, K.A., Lambert, P., Thompson, J.R. Evidence based sample size calculations for future trials based on results of current meta-analyses. Statistics in Medicine 2007; 26(12):2479-24500.

Evidence synthesis methods including meta-analysis network meta-analysis data visualisation software development

I teach on the MSc in Medical Statistics currently I contribute to teaching on the following topics: Clinical Trials Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods Advanced Evidence Synthesis Decision Making