Table 3.
Quality assessment of included articles
| Study | Randomization appropriate a | Treatment allocation concealment b | Groups similar at baseline c | Blinding of all participants d | Unexpected imbalance in drop-outse | Measured outcomes not reported f | ITT analysis, missing data g | Quality score h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abou-Raya et al. 2012 [49] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Afilalo et al. 2010 [50] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Baerwald et al. 2010 [51] |
Not clear |
Not clear |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
5 |
| Bensen et al. 1999 [52] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Bingham et al. 2007 [53] |
Not clear |
Not clear |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
5 |
| Boswell et al. 2008 [54] |
Not clear |
Not clear |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
5 |
| Burch et al. 2007 [55] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Not clear |
6 |
| Chappell et al. 2011 [26] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Chappell et al. 2009 [27] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Clegg et al. 2006 [56] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| DeLemos et al. 2011 [57] |
Not clear |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
6 |
| Essex et al. 2012 [58] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Fishman et al. 2007 [59] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes, explained |
No |
Yes |
6 |
| Fleischmann et al. 2006 [60] |
Not clear |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
6 |
| Fleischmann et al. 2001 [61] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Gana et al. 2006 [36] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Hochberg et al. 2011 [62] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Kivitz et al. 2002 [63] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Kivitz et al. 2001 [64] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Lehmann et al. 2005 [65] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Leung et al. 2002 [66] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Not clear |
5 |
| Markenson et al. 2005 [67] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Puopolo et al. 2007 [68] |
Yes |
Not clear |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Not clear |
5 |
| Rauck et al. 2013 [69] |
not clear |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
6 |
| Schnitzer et al. 2011 [70] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Schnitzer et al. 2011 [71] |
Not clear |
Not clear |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
5 |
| Schnitzer et al. 2010 [72] |
Yes |
Not clear |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
6 |
| Sheldon et al. 2005 [73] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Sowers et al. 2005 [74] |
Yes |
Not clear |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
6 |
| Tannenbaum et al. 2004 [75] |
Not clear |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
6 |
| Vojtassak et al. 2011 [76] |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
7 |
| Wiesenhutter et al. 2005 [77] | Not clear | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | 6 |
a“Was randomisation carried out appropriately?”.
b“Was the concealment of treatment allocation adequate?”.
c“Were the groups similar at the outset of the study in terms of prognostic factors, for example, severity of disease?”.
d“Were the care providers, participants and outcome assessors blind to treatment allocation? If any of these people were not blinded, what might be the likely impact on the risk of bias (for each outcome)?”.
e“Were there any unexpected imbalances in drop-outs between groups? If so, were they explained or adjusted for?”.
f“Is there any evidence to suggest that the authors measured more outcomes than they reported?”.
g“Did the analysis include an intention-to-treat analysis? If so, was this appropriate and were appropriate methods used to account for missing data?”.
hQuality Score is calculated by summing the positive answers to each question (“yes” answers to questions 1–4 and 7, and “no” answers to questions 5 &6).