Table 2.
Quality of the evidence and recommendation strengths.
| Quality assessment | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of RCT | Limitations | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Outcome measures | Quality | Importance |
| Pain intensity at 1 week | |||||||
| 5 | Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious indirectness | WMD=−0.429; 95% CI: −0.679 to −0.179 | Moderate | Critical |
| Pain intensity at 4 week | |||||||
| 4 | Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious indirectness | WMD=−0.308; 95% CI: −0.587 to −0.030 | Moderate | Critical |
| Pain intensity at 8 week | |||||||
| 3 | Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious indirectness | WMD=−0.724; 95% CI: −1.099 to −0.348 | Moderate | Critical |
| WOMAC index at 1 week | |||||||
| 4 | Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious indirectness | WMD=−3.314; 95% CI: −6.484 to −0.145 | Moderate | Critical |
| WOMAC index at 4 week | |||||||
| 4 | Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious indirectness | WMD=−3.630; 95% CI: −6.893 to −0.366 | Moderate | Critical |
| WOMAC index at 8 week | |||||||
| 3 | Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious indirectness | WMD=−3.775; 95% CI: −7.315 to −0.235 | Moderate | Critical |
| Short form 12 health survey | |||||||
| 3 | Serious limitations | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious indirectness | WMD=3.466; 95% CI: 0.298–6.635 | Moderate | Critical |
| Adverse effects | |||||||
| 4 | Serious limitations | Serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious indirectness | WMD=0.003; 95% CI: −0.031 to 0.037 | Low | Critical |
WOMAC, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis.