Table 2.
Study design criteria aimed at reducing bias by instrument.
| Instrument reference | Random allocation of treatment | Allocation concealment | Blinding | Inclusion exclusion criteria stated | Sample size calculation | Compliance with animal welfare requirements | Conflict of interest disclosed | Statistical model explained | Animals with comorbidity | Test animal details | Dose–response model | Every animal accounted for | Optimal time window used | No. (%) of criteria in each instrument (n=13) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vesterinen etal. 2011a | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | N | Y | N | Y | N | 9 (69) |
| Agerstrand etal. 2011a | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | Y | Y | N | Y | 5 (38) |
| National Research Council Institute for Laboratory Animal Research 2011a | Y | N | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | 5 (38) |
| Lamontagne etal. 2010a | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | N | N | N | 5 (38) |
| Conrad and Becker 2010a | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | 1 (8) |
| Vesterinen etal. 2010 | Y | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | 5 (38) |
| Kilkenny etal. 2010a | Y | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | 7 (54) |
| Minnerup etal. 2010a | Y | N | Y | N | N | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | N | N | N | 6 (46) |
| Hooijmans etal. 2010a | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | Y | N | Y | N | 8 (62) |
| van der Worp etal. 2010a | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | 7 (54) |
| Macleod etal. 2009a | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | 8 (62) |
| Fisher etal. 2009a | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | N | 9 (69) |
| Rice etal. 2008a | Y | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | 5 (38) |
| Sniekers etal. 2008a | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | Y | 4 (31) |
| Sena etal. 2007a | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | 8 (62) |
| Unger 2007 | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | 4 (31) |
| Hobbs etal. 2005a | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | Y | Y | N | N | 3 (23) |
| Marshall etal. 2005a | Y | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | 5 (38) |
| van der Worp etal.2005a | Y | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | N | N | N | 4 (31) |
| de Aguilar- Nascimento 2005a | Y | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | 3 (23) |
| Macleod etal. 2004a | Y | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | 5 (38) |
| Bebarta etal. 2003 | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | 2 (15) |
| Verhagen etal. 2003a | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | Y | N | N | 2 (15) |
| Lucas etal. 2002a | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | 3 (23) |
| Festing and Altman 2002a | Y | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | 5 (38) |
| Johnson and Besselsen 2002a | Y | N | N | N | Y | N | N | Y | N | N | N | N | Y | 4 (31) |
| Horn etal. 2001a | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | 3 (23) |
| Durda and Preziosi 2000a | Y | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | Y | Y | N | N | 4 (31) |
| Klimisch etal. 1997a | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | N | Y | Y | N | N | 2 (15) |
| Hsu 1993a | Y | N | Y | N | Y | N | N | N | N | N | Y | N | N | 4 (31) |
| No. (%) of instruments containing criterion (n=30) | 25 (83) | 6 (20) | 23 (77) | 6 (20) | 18 (60) | 6 (20) | 9 (30) | 12 (40) | 6 (20) | 14 (47) | 10 (33) | 7 (23) | 3 (10) | |
| Abbreviations: Y, the criterion was present; N, the criterion was not present. aThe instrument contained additional criteria (see Supplemental Material, TableS1). | ||||||||||||||