Appendix 2. Applied quality items (Berkman et al. 2004; Drummond et al. 2005; NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination 2001; Pignone et al. 2005)
| No. | Items | Comment/criteria | PREV | COST | CEFF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 ext | Population characteristics described in sufficient detail? (pop_sex_age_ethn_morb) | At least 3: sex; age; morbidities or social features (such as ethnicity; education; income) | PREV | COST | CEFF |
| 2 ext | Recruitment of population described in sufficient detail? (site_level) | Qual. description is sufficient; | PREV | COST | CEFF |
| 3 ext | Intervention described in sufficient detail? (intervention) | CEFF | |||
| 4 ext | Alternative described in sufficient detail? (alternative) | CEFF | |||
| 5 int | Randomisation procedure adequate? (gen of ran sequ; concealm of alloc) | Both have to be described for randomised studies | CEFF | ||
| 6 int | Completeness of follow up (follup_compl) | Completeness fulfilled: >=80% | CEFF | ||
| 7 int | Blinding (of outcome assessors or study analysts, may be for HL or costs) | Fulfilled if stated in the text | CEFF | ||
| 8 int | Outcome measurement for HL: described in sufficient detail? (out_HL-meas) | PREV | COST | CEFF | |
| 9 int | Outcome measurement for intermed/final: outcome described in sufficient detail? (out_cons) | COST | CEFF | ||
| 10 int | Costs measured correctly? (out_cost) | To be described: quantities of resource use; currency and price date; discounting | COST | CEFF | |
| 11 int | Outcome incremental analysis for costs and consequences? (out_cost) | CEFF | |||
| 12 ext | Perspective of economic evaluation stated? (CEFF_persp) | CEFF | |||
| 13 ext | Sensitivity analysis performed? (CEFF_sensit) | To address uncertainty of input variables | COST | CEFF | |
| 14 int | Analysis: adequate techniques used? | Measures of uncertainty for main results reported? (e.g. CI); accounted for confounding? (restriction; stratific.; multivar. models; ran) If econometric model used: time horizon stated? | PREV | COST | CEFF |
Applied scoring: No; Yes; unclear
int items addressing internal validity, ext items addressing external validity, PREV studies assessing the prevalence of HL levels, COST studies assessing the costs of limited HL, CEFF studies assessing the cost-effectiveness of interventions to improve limited HL