Table 1.

Indicators used to describe and evaluate included randomised controlled trials

Indicator		Description
Descriptive indicators
1	Publication language	Chinese or English
2	Nationality of authors	Chinese, international or collaboration
3	Funding source	As reported
4	Disease area	Simple categories
5	Choice of comparator interventions	Placebo/alternative treatment/no treatment
6	Size of trial	Number of participants
7	Ethical committee approval	Yes/No
8	Informed consent from participants	As reported
Quality of reporting: CONSORT indicators
9	Sample size	How was sample size determined?
10	Randomisation	Was the trial randomised?
11	Allocation concealment	What method was used to implement the random allocation sequence?
12	Blinding	Whether or not patients and/or investigators were blinded to group assignment
13	Baseline characteristics	Were the baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of each group reported
14	Primary outcomes	Did they report which outcome was designated as the primary outcome?
15	Length of follow-up	As reported
16	Loss to follow-up	As reported
17	Statistical reporting	Were confidence intervals or p values reported to indicate precision?