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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Apr 11.
Published in final edited form as: Arthritis Rheum. 2009 Mar;61(3):361–369. doi: 10.1002/art.24279

Table 2.

Number (%) of selected reports of trials of pharmaceutical and nonpharmaceutical treatments for hip and knee osteoarthritis that described items related to external validity

Reporting of All treatment Pharmacologic treatment Devices Rehabilitation Surgery
N (%) N (%) N (%) N (%) N (%)
N=120 N=30 N=30 N=30 N=30
Recruitment
 – Method of recruitment 43 (36) 8 (27) 13 (43) 18 (60) 4 (13)
 – Specific method to enrich patient’s recruitment 23 (19) 18 (60) 5 (17) 0 0
 – Duration of recruitment (10 patients/month) 56 (47) 10 (33) 11 (37) 15 (50) 20 (67)
Patients
 – Inclusion criteria 118 (98) 30 (100) 30 (100) 30 (100) 28 (93)
 – Exclusion criteria 106 (88) 30 (100) 27 (90) 28 (93) 21 (70)
  – Rate of strongly justified exclusion criteria in each article mean (SD) 75.5 (23.6) 77.7 (20.7) 79.0 (21.3) 66.9 (26.1) 79.3 (25.6)
  – Rate of potentially justified in each article mean (SD) 1.5 (4.7) 1.1 (3.4) 1.5 (4.7) 2.8 (6.8) 0.5 (2.3)
  – Rate of poorly justified in each article mean (SD) 22.9 (23.0) 21.3 (20.5) 19.5 (19.4) 30.3 (26.3) 20.2 (25.3)
 – Flow diagram 48 (40) 18 (60) 11 (37) 17 (57) 2 (7)
 – Number of eligible patients 50 (42) 12 (40) 14 (47) 21 (70) 3 (10)
 – Number of patients not meeting inclusion criteria 39 (33) 9 (30) 8 (27) 19 (63) 3 (10)
 – Number of patients refusing participation 31 (26) 6 (20) 8 (27) 14 (47) 3 (10)
 – Baseline characteristics of randomized patients 109 (91) 28 (93) 28 (93) 27 (90) 26 (87)
  - Age 108 (90) 28 (93) 28 (93) 27 (90) 25 (83)
  - Sex 101 (84) 27 (90) 24 (80) 25 (83) 25 (83)
  - Weight/body mass index 74 (62) 22 (73) 18 (60) 17 (57) 17 (57)
  - Ethnicity 18 (15) 8 (27) 3 (10) 5 (17) 2 (7)
  - Duration of disease 47 (39) 13 (43) 20 (67) 9 (3 0) 5 (17)
  - Measure of function status 55 (46) 17 (57) 15 (50) 16 (53) 7 (23)
  - Level of pain 47 (39) 14 (47) 15 (50) 15 (50) 3 (10)
  - Description of radiographic damage 27 (23) 5 (17) 11 (37) 4 (13) 7 (23)
  - NSAIDs/other drugs 19 (16) 6 (20) 6 (20) 6 (20) 1 (3)
  - Coexisting diseases 14 (12) 2 (7) 1 (3) 9 (30) 2 (7)
Setting/center/care provider
 – Location of recruitment 46 (38) 9 (30) 17 (57) 17 (57) 3 (10)
 – Setting of recruitment 40 (33) 7 (23) 16 (53) 16 (53) 1 (3)
 – Country where the trial took place 25 (21) 8 (27) 6 (20) 10 (33) 1 (3)
 – Number of centers 54 (45) 19 (63) 16 (53) 15 (50) 4 (13)
 – Details of the centers 24 (20) 3 (10) 10 (33) 9 (30) 2 (7)
 – Number of patients recruited in each center 0 0 0 0 0
 – Details of care provider 35 (29) 2 (7) 6 (20) 10 (33) 17 (57)
 – Number of care providers 33 (28) 2 (7) 4 (13) 7 (23) 20 (67)