References | Risk of bias (RoB) domains a | Tier b | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Exposure KEY | Outcome KEY | Confounding KEY | Inappropriate selection | Attrition | Other sources of bias/statistics | ||
Clarke et al. ( 2007 ) | ++ | ++ | ++ | + | – | + | 1 |
Morris et al. ( 2012) | + | ++ | ++ | ++ | NR | + | 1 |
Doets et al. (2014) | + | + | ++ | + | NR | + | 1 |
Expert judgement was translated into a rating scale for each question to be answered as follows: (++): definitely low RoB; (+): probably low RoB; (NR): not reported; (−): probably high RoB; (− −): definitively high RoB.
The individual rating for each question was combined by an algorithm and translated to an overall tier of reliability for each individual study (RoB tier 1: low RoB; RoB tier 2: moderate RoB; RoB tier 3: high RoB).