Table 10.
The Critical Appraisal Tool
| Study | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Critical Appraisal Questions | A | B | C | D | |
| 1 | Did the study state a clear focused question? | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| 2 | Was an appropriate method used to answer the focused question? | Y | Y | N | Y |
| 3 | Were patients assigned to an intervention and control group by means of random allocation? | U | Y | N | Y |
| 4 | Were patients, staff, and medical professionals “blinded” to the intervention study group? | N | N | N | N |
| 5 | Were measures taken to adjust patient characteristics at baseline? | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| 6 | Was an adequate follow-up and data collection method used in the same way for all participants? | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| 7 | Were all patients who originally entered the trials accounted for in the conclusion of the study? | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| 8 | Did the study have enough participants to reduce the play of chance? | Y | Y | N | U |
| 9 | Is the outcome of the results of significant relevance to the effect of the intervention? | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| 10 | Were all important outcome measures considered to apply these results to the general CKD population? | Y | Y | N | N |
| TOTAL | 17 | 18 | 10 | 15 | |
Y=2; N=0; U=1