Table 4: Quality of evidence of included studies on stress ECHO.
| Study Design | Level of Evidencet |
Number of Eligible Studies |
|---|---|---|
| Large RCT, systematic review of RCTs | 1 | |
| Large RCT unpublished but reported to an international scientific meeting | 1(g) | |
| Small RCT | 2 | |
| Small RCT unpublished but reported to an international scientific meeting | 2(g) | |
| Non-RCT with contemporaneous controls | 3a | 105 (Patients acted as their own controls) |
| Non-RCT with historical controls | 3b | |
| Non-RCT presented at international conference | 3(g) | |
| Surveillance (database or register) | 4a | |
| Case series (multisite) | 4b | |
| Case series (single site) | 4c | |
| Retrospective review, modelling | 4d | |
| Case series presented at international conference | 4(g) | |
| Total | 105 |
RCT refers to randomized controlled trial;
Table adapted from Goodman, 1996 (24)