Single-Arm Studies
Author, Year of Publication	Country	Study Design	Selection	Comparability	Exposure	Tot.
Chang et al., 1997 [17]	China	Prospective cohort	3	1	3	7
Mesogitis et al., 2000 [18]	Greece	Prospective cohort	2	1	3	6
Koike et al., 2002 [19]	Japan	Retrospective cohort	3	2	3	8
Fisch et al., 2004 [20]	USA	Prospective cohort	3	2	3	8
Agostini et al., 2006 [21]	France	Prospective cohort	3	2	3	9
Ikuta et al., 2006 [22]	Japan	Prospective cohort	3	2	3	8
Hsieh et al., 2008 [23]	Taiwan	Prospective cohort	3	2	2	7
Gatta et al., 2010 [24]	Italy	Prospective cross-sectional	3	2	3	8
André et al., 2011 [25]	Brazil	Prospective cohort	3	1	2	6
Shawki et al., 2011 [26]	Egypt	Randomized controlled trial	3	2	2	7
Wang et al., 2011 [27]	China	Prospective cross-sectional	3	2	2	7
Aflatoonian et al., 2013 [28]	Iran	Randomized controlled trial	3	1	2	6
Garcia-Tejedor et al., 2015 [29]	Spain	Prospective cohort	3	1	2	6
Begum et al., 2015 [30]	Bangladesh	Prospective cohort	3	1	3	7
Wang et al., 2015 [31]	China	Prospective cohort	3	1	2	6
Han et al., 2018 [32]	South Korea	Prospective cohort	3	1	3	7
Aflatoonian et al., 2020 [33]	Iran	Retrospective cross-sectional	3	1	2	6
Miquel et al., 2020 [34]	France	Retrospective cohort	3	1	2	6
Huang et al., 2021 [35]	Taiwan	Retrospective cross-sectional	3	1	3	7
Lee et al., 2022 [36]	South Korea	Retrospective cohort	3	1	3	7
Meng et al., 2022 [37]	China	Prospective cohort	3	1	3	7
Comparative studies, included for meta-analysis
Noma et al., 2001 [38]	Japan	Retrospective cross-sectional	3	3	2	8
Suganuma et al., 2002 [39]	Japan	Prospective cross-sectional	3	1	2	6
Yazbeck et al., 2009 [40]	France	Prospective cross-sectional	3	3	3	9
Lee et al., 2014 [41]	South Korea	Retrospective cohort	3	1	2	6
Garcia-Tejedor et al., 2020 [42]	Spain	Prospective cohort pilot	3	3	2	8
Alborzi et al., 2021 [43]	Iran	Prospective cross-sectional	2	3	2	7
Koo et al., 2021 [44]	South Korea	Randomized controlled trial	3	3	2	8
Martinez-Garcia et al., 2021 [45]	Spain	Prospective cohort pilot	3	2	2	7