Table 3.

Study quality assessment

Criterion	Mean	Standard deviation
Q1 Was the research question or objective in this paper clearly stated?	1	0
Q2 Was the study population clearly specified and defined?	0.9	0.3
Q3 Were all the subjects selected or recruited from the same or similar populations (including the same time period)? Were inclusion and exclusion criteria for being in the study pre-specified and applied uniformly to all participants?	1	0
Q4 Was a sample size justification, power description, or variance and effect estimates provided?	0.9	0.2
Q5 For the analyses in this paper, were the neighborhood or residential factors measured prior to the breast cancer outcome(s) being measured?	0.2	0.4
Q6 Was the timeframe sufficient so that one could reasonably expect to see an association between neighborhood or residential factors and breast cancer outcome if it existed?	0.9	0.2
Q7 For neighborhood or residential factors that can vary in amount or level, did the study examine different levels as related to the outcome (e.g., categories of exposure, or exposure measured as continuous variable)?	0.9	0.3
Q8 Were the neighborhood or residential factors clearly defined, valid, reliable, and implemented consistently across all study participants?	1	0
Q9 Were the breast cancer outcome measures clearly defined, valid, reliable, and implemented consistently across all study participants?	0.9	0.2
Q10 Were the outcome assessors blinded to the exposure status of participants?	0.1	0.2
Q11 Were key potential confounding variables measured and adjusted statistically for their impact on the relationship between neighborhood or residential factors and breast cancer outcome(s)?	1	0
Total score	8.8	1.8

Note: Criterion yes = 1, all others (no, not reported, cannot determine, not applicable) = 0

Total global score between 0 and 11