Table 1.

Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP): Quality assessment criteria checklists by study design

Study design	Controlled clinical trial	Observational study	Systematic review
Quality Assessment Criteria	·Randomization adequate?	·Non-biased selection?	·Report clear review question, state inclusion and exclusion criteria of primary studies?
	· Allocation concealment adequate?	·High overall loss to follow-up or differential loss to follow-up?
	·Groups similar at baseline?
		·Outcomes pre-specified and defined?	·Substantial effort to find relevant research?
	·Eligibility criteria specified?
		·Ascertainment techniques adequately described?	·Adequate assessment of validity of included studies?
	·Outcome assessors masked?
	·Care provider masked?	·Non-biased and adequate ascertainment methods?	·Sufficient detail of individual studies presented?
	·Patient masked?
	·ITT-analysis?	·Statistical analysis of potential confounders?
	·Maintenance of comparable groups?		·Primary studies summarized appropriately?
		·Adequate duration of follow-up?
	·Acceptable levels of crossovers, adherence, and contamination?
	·Overall and between-group attrition acceptable?

Abbreviations: ITT intention-to-treat.