Table 4.

Overview of primary study selection: comparison of trials included as RCTs by IQWiG

Systematic review	Search date	Primary study* (database entry date)†					Personal communication with review authors or other researchers at the publishing institutions
		Joseph 2000 [20]	Ford 2002 [17]	Wanner 2003 [27]	Eginton 2003 [16]	Moues 2004 [23]
		(CIN: 2000-08; C)	(M: 2002-07-27; E; C)	(M: 2003-03-11; E; C)	(M: 2003-10-10; E; C)	(M: 2004-02-21; E; C; CIN)
Reviews considering RCTs and non-RCTs
Costa/MUHC TAU 2005 [30]	3/2005	RCT	RCT	RCT	RCT‡	RCT	Eginton 2003. PC (V. Costa): "We classified the study as a crossover design. If I had to discern between RCT and non-RCT, I would consider it an RCT."
IQWiG 2006 [8]	5/2005	RCT	RCT	RCT	RCT	RCT	-
Pham/ASERNIP-S 2006 update/[31]	10/2004 (RCTs/non-RCTs) 7/2005 (RCTs)	RCT	RCT	RCT	RCT	RCT	-
Reviews considering RCTs
Samson/AHRQ 2004 [29]	6/2004	RCT	RCT	RCT	RCT	RCT	-
OHTAC 2006 [32]	3/2006	RCT	RCT	RCT	Not reported (PC: excluded)	RCT	Eginton 2003. PC (Medical Advisory Secretariat): "This citation was retrieved from the literature search, but was excluded as only 10 patients were enrolled. The exclusion was not documented in the HTA."

*Unless otherwise noted, the language of publication (abstract and full text) is English.

^†Databases containing primary studies (entry date in database: yyyy-mm-dd).

^‡ "Crossover; first treatment selected randomly"[30].

AHRQ: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; ASERNIP-S: Australian Safety and Efficacy Register of New Interventional Procedures – Surgical; C: The Cochrane Library; CIN: CINAHL; E: EMBASE; HTA: health technology assessment; IQWiG: Institut für Qualität und Wirtschaftlichkeit im Gesundheitswesen (Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care); M: MEDLINE; MUHC TAU: McGill University Health Centre Technology Assessment Unit; OHTAC: Ontario Health Technology Advisory Committee; PC: personal communication; RCT: randomised controlled trial.