Table 2.
Critical appraisal of selected articles sorted by disease and study design
| Study design, disease | Robust | Intermediate | Weak | Total |
| Randomised controlled trials | ||||
| SLE | 0 | 16 | 33 | 49 |
| SSc | 2 | 18 | 13 | 33 |
| Quasi-experimental studies | ||||
| SLE | 8 | 29 | 1 | 38 |
| SSc | 13 | 23 | 1 | 37 |
| Cross-sectional studies | ||||
| SLE | 6 | 6 | 0 | 12 |
| SSc | 1 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| Qualitative studies | ||||
| SLE | 6 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| SSc | 7 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Case series | ||||
| SLE | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| SSc | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Cohort studies | ||||
| SLE | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| SSc | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Meta-analyses | ||||
| SLE | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| SSc | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Case–control studies | ||||
| SLE | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| SSc | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; SSc, systemic sclerosis.