TABLE 2.
Certainty of evidence of meta-analyses of observational studies linking artificially-sweetened beverages and health outcomes
| Health outcomes | Certainty of evidence | Criteria used |
|---|---|---|
| - | Strong | ∗P < 10−6; >1000 cases; P < 0.05 of the largest study in a meta-analysis; I2 < 50%; no small study effect1; prediction interval excludes the null value; no excess significance bias2 |
| Obesity, type 2 diabetes, all-cause mortality, hypertension, CVD incidence | Highly suggestive | ∗P < 10−6; >1000 cases; P < 0.05 of the largest study in a meta-analysis |
| - | Sugestive | ∗P < 10−3; >1000 cases |
| Colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, cancer mortality, cardiovascular mortality, chronic kidney disease, CAD, stroke | Weak | ∗P < 0.05 |
1
Small study effects is based on the P value from the Egger’s regression asymmetry test (P ≤ 0.1) where the random-effects model estimate is larger than the point estimate of the largest study.
2
Base on the P value (P > 0.1) of the excess of significance test using the largest study in a meta-analysis.
∗
P indicates the P values of the meta-analysis random-effects model.