Table 6.

Results of risk-of-bias assessment of the individual studies

	Primary included
	Seybold [33]	Hénaux [18]	Koech [22]	Platzer [30]	Osti [29]	Hou [19]	Kaminski [21]	Butler [5]	Lefranc [25]	Molinari JSDT [26]	Molinari ESJ [27]
Key criteria
Clear study objective	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	–	+	+
Criteria for inclusion explicit	+	+	+	–	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Fractures appropriately described	+	+	+	+	+	+	–	+	+	+	+
Distinction Type II/III appropriate	+	+	+	+	+	+	–	+	+	?	?
Mean age (range)	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Selection bias ruled out	+	+	+	–	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Mean follow-up (range)	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Surgical treatm. specified	+	+	NA	+	+	+	+	NA	+	+	NA
Conservative treatm. specified	–	NA	+	NA	NA	NA	NA	+	+	NA	+
Clear criteria for measuring outcomes	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Clinically relevant outcomes	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
When clinical outcome reported: Is pre-treatment neurol status stated	–	+	–	+	+	+	+	–	+	–	–
Results for surg/cons treatm. separately given	+	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	+	NA	NA
Selective l.t.f.u. ruled out	No, l.t.f.u. >20 %	Yes	Yes	Yes	No, l.t.f.u. >20 %	Yes	No, l.t.f.u <20 %	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Other criteria
Valid statistical analysis	+	NA	NA	+	+	NA	NA	+	+	+	+
Number of men and women given or extractable	–	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Clinical evaluation independent of treating physician	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Radiological evaluation independent and blinded	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Independence of investigators stated	–	+	+	+	+	+	+	–	–	+	+
Quantification of outcomes	Yes, <5 scale	Yes, <5 scale	Yes, <5 scale	Yes, <5 scale	Yes, <5 scale	Yes, <5 scale	Yes, <5 scale	Yes, >5 scale	Yes, >5 scale	Yes, <5 scale	Yes, <5 scale
Results
Selection bias ruled out	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Baseline (max 11 points)	8	10	9	9	10	10	8	9	10	8	8
Results (max 11 points)	5	6	6	7	5	6	5	7	8	7	7

	Secondary included
	Dailey [13]	Kuntz [24]	Koivikko [23]	Börm [4]	Andersson [2]	Berlemann [3]	Hanigan [15]	Hanssen [16]
Key criteria
Clear study objective	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Criteria for inclusion explicit	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Fractures appropriately described	+	+	–	+	+	+	+	+
Distinction Type II/III appropriate	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Mean age (range)	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Selection bias ruled out	+	+	–	+	+	+	–	+
Mean follow-up (range)	+	+	+	–	+	+	+	+
Surgical treatm. specified	+	+	–	+	+	+	+	NA
Conservative treatm. specified	NA	+	+	NA	+	NA	+	+
Clear criteria for measuring outcomes	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Clinically relevant outcomes	–	–	–	+NE	+NE	+NE	+NE	–
When clinical outcome reported: Is pre-treatment neurol status stated	NA	NA	NA	+NE	+NE	+NE	–	NA
Results for surg/cons treatm. separately given	NA	+	NA	NA	+	NA	+	NA
Selective l.t.f.u. ruled out	No, l.t.f.u. <20 %	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No, l.t.f.u. <20 %
Other criteria
Valid statistical analysis	NA	+	+	+	–	–	–	–
Number of men and women given or extractable	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Clinical evaluation independent of treating physician	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Radiological evaluation independent and blinded	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Independence of investigators stated	–	–	+	–	–	–	–	–
Quantification of outcomes	Yes, <5 scale	Yes, descr.	Yes, descr.	Yes, <5 scale	Yes, <5 scale	Yes, descr.	Yes, descr.	Yes, descr.
Results
Selection bias ruled out	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Baseline (max 11 points)	8	9	7	10	11	10	10	8
Results (max 11 points)	4	5	6	5	6	4	6	3

+ Yes, - no, ? cannot tell, NA not applicable, NE not extractable for review purposes