Table III.
Risk bias of the included studies
| Reference | STROBE items | Total scores | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | ||
| Schover, et al. [16] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | N | Y | N | N | 17 |
| Rieker, et al. [4] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | 18 |
| Tinkler, et al. [12] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | 16 |
| Joly, et al. [17] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | 17 |
| Dahl, et al. [18] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | 20 |
| Eberhard, et al. [14] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | N | 19 |
| Kim, et al. [15] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | 20 |
| Pallotti, et al. [13] | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | 19 |
STROBE, strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology; Y – yes; N – no; 1 – Title and abstract informative and balanced; 2 – Background/rationale stated in the introduction; 3 – Objective specified in the introduction; 4 – Study design correctly and presented early in the paper; 5 – Setting, locations, and relevant dates described; 6 – Give the eligibility criteria, and the sources and methods of case ascertainment and control selection; 7 – Diagnostic criteria, outcomes, exposures, predictors, potential confounders, and effect modifiers for all variables clearly defined; 8 – Sources of data and details of methods of measurement given for each variable of interest; 9 – Any efforts to address potential sources of bias described; 10 – How the study size was arrived at clearly explained; 11 – Describe all statistical methods, including those used to control for confounding; 12 – Explain how matching of cases and controls was addressed; 13 – Numbers of individuals of study reported; 14 – Characteristics of study, number of participants clearly described; 15 – Report numbers in each exposure category, or summary measures of exposure; 16 – Confounder-adjusted risk estimates and their 95% confidence interval reported; 17 – Analyses of subgroups and interactions reported; 18 – Summarize key results with reference to study objectives; 19 – Discuss limitations of the study; 20 – Give a cautious overall interpretation of results; 21 – Discuss the generalizability (external validity) of the study results; 22 – Source of funding and role of the funders described.