Bayesian Statistics: A Narrative Review on Application in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are highly heterogeneous conditions, varying in clinical manifestations, disease localization, progression, and response to treatment. Failing to account for this heterogeneity can substantially diminish the power of clinical trials and reduce the likelihood of detecting a true effect. In this review, we explore the transformative potential of Bayesian statistics in IBD clinical research, highlighting its ability to provide deeper insights, refine trial design, and facilitate more informed medical decision-making. We explain how Bayesian methods are best incorporated into innovative IBD clinical trial designs, such as single-arm trials utilizing historical data, master protocols, and adaptive trials. In adaptive designs, Bayesian techniques enable dynamic adjustments to sample sizes based on interim data, helping to maintain adequate power while optimizing resource allocation. For network meta-analysis, Bayesian statistics enhance the estimation of treatment effects in complex or sparse data situations by integrating prior knowledge and effectively managing hierarchical models. These methods are also applied in pharmacokinetic decision-making to address inter-patient variability in IBD, offering more accurate predictions of drug concentrations and target attainment at the outset of treatment. A checklist is added for non-specialist readers on how to approach reading an article that employs Bayesian methods, as part of a Users' Guide to the Literature.

Keywords: Bayesian statistics; IBD; innovative clinical trials design; trial design optimization.