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. 2011 Dec 22;6(12):e29249. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029249

Table 3. Summary of study characteristics (n = 209).

Characteristic Number of studies
Study design
Systematic reviews ± meta-analyses 3
Randomised controlled trials 23
Non-randomised controlled trials 137
Non-randomised clinical studies 43
Prospective cohort studies 1
Case series 2
Setting of conduct
Community or primary care 5
Outpatient department or hospital clinic 127
Other 3
Not stated 74
UN inequality-adjusted Human Development Index 2010
Very high 186
High 16
Medium 3
Low 0
No data 4
Study population (aetiology of immunocompromise) *
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection 58
Cancers 56
Transpla nt recipients 52
Autoimmune diseases receiving immunosuppressive therapy 34
Respiratory diseases receiving immunosuppressive therapy 5
Other 7

*Three studies recruited multiple groups of immunocompromised patients [52], [89], [119].