Table 4.
Quality assessment using the Cochrane GRADE system
| Authors | Initial level of certainty | Final level of certainty | Risk of bias | Inconsistency of results | Indirectness of evidence | Imprecision of results | Large effects (upgrading) | Dose response (upgrading) |
Opposing plausible residual bias and confounding (upgrading) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Clinical outcomes all studies |
Low | Very low | High | Considerable I2 | N/A | 95% CI missing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Clinical outcomes LOE II studies |
High | Very low | High | Considerable I2 | N/A | 95% CI missing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
|
Clinical outcomes LOE III studies |
Low | Very low | High | Considerable I2 | N/A | 95% CI missing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| VAS all studies | Low | Very low | High | Considerable I2 | N/A | ||||
| VAS LOE II studies | Low | Very low | High | Considerable I2 | N/A | 95% CI missing | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| VAS LOE III studies | Low | Very low | High | Considerable I2 | N/A | 95% CI missing | N/A | N/A | N/A |