 Indirect treatment comparison

For independent studies comparing treatments $A$ and $B$ to common control $C$, a consistent log odds ratio comparison uses ${\hat{\delta }}_{AB}={\hat{\delta }}_{AC}-{\hat{\delta }}_{BC}$, with variance $v_{AC}+v_{BC}$. This follows from subtracting two estimates of additive effects relative to the same reference. With overlapping evidence, subtract twice their covariance. Causal comparability across the studies is supplied by transitivity in network meta-analysis, not by the variance calculation.