Table 3: Assessment of the Quality of the Methods.
| Study | Criteria* | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | |
| Mahomed, 2004 (20;21) (gray literature) |
1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | No data |
No data |
2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | No data |
| Kelly, 1999 (22) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
All criteria are scored from 0 to 2. See Appendix 4 for the definition of each score for each criterion.
A. Was the assigned treatment adequately concealed prior to allocation? B. Were withdrawals adequately described and included in the analysis (intention-to-treat)? C. Were the outcome assessors blinded to treatment status? D. Were the treatment and control groups comparable at entry? E. Were the participants blind to assignment status after allocation? F. Were the treatment providers blind to assignment status? G. Were care programs, other than the trial options, identical? H. Were the inclusion and exclusion criteria clearly defined? I. Were the interventions clearly defined? J. Were the outcome measures clearly defined? K. Were diagnostic tests used in outcome assessment clinically useful? L. Was the surveillance active and of a clinically appropriate duration?