TABLE 3.

Risk of bias assessment.

Study	Random sequence generation	Allocation concealment	Selective reporting	Other sources of bias	Blinding (participants and personnel)	Blinding (outcome assessment)	Incomplete outcome data	General risk of bias
Mujica et al. 2017 [17]	L	U	L	L	L	U	L	Low
Samadi et al. 2017 [46]	L	U	L	L	L	L	L	Low
Afsharpour et al. 2017 [47]	L	U	L	L	L	L	L	Low
Zhu et al. 2018 [16]	L	U	L	L	U	U	L	High
Silveira et al. 2019 [48]	L	L	L	U	L	U	L	Low
Zakerkish et al. 2019 [49]	L	L	L	L	U	L	L	Low
Hesami et al. 2019 [20]	L	U	L	L	L	U	L	Low
Gholaminejad et al. 2019 [50]	L	L	L	L	L	U	L	Low
Soleimani et al. 2021 [18]	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	Low
Soleimani et al. 2021 [51]	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	Low
Alassaf et al. 2021 [52]	U	U	L	L	U	U	L	High
Triyono et al. 2021 [53]	U	U	H	U	L	U	L	High
Nikbaf-Shandiz et al. 2022 [54]	L	L	L	L	L	U	L	Low
Afsharpour et al. 2022 [55]	L	U	L	L	L	L	L	Low
Miryan et al. 2022 [56]	L	L	H	U	L	U	L	High
Ochoa-Morales et al. 2022 [57]	L	L	L	L	L	U	L	Low
Davoodi et al. 2022 [58]	L	L	L	L	L	U	L	Low
Rashvand et al. 2022 [59]	U	U	H	L	U	U	L	High
Abbasi et al. 2023 [60]	L	U	L	U	L	L	L	Low
Tutunchi et al. 2023 [61]	L	L	L	L	U	U	L	Low
Moayedi et al. 2023 [62]	L	L	L	U	L	U	L	Low
Sani et al. 2023 [63]	L	U	L	L	L	U	L	Low
Kanazashi et al. 2023 [64]	L	L	L	L	L	U	L	Low
Sajjadi et al. 2023 [22]	L	L	L	L	L	U	L	Low

Abbreviations: H, high risk of bias; L; low risk of bias; U, unclear risk of bias.

General risk of bias is considered as high if there were high risk of bias in ≥2 items or unclear risk of bias in ≥3 criteria.