Table 6.
Quality criteria for the evaluation of design and data analysis in epidemiologic studies of arsenic and eGFR and CKD-based outcomes
| Criteria | Mayer et al. | Chiou et al. | Karmaus et al. | Hsueh et al. | Chen et al. | Hawkesworth et al. | Jayatilake et al. | Palaneeswari et al. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenic exposure assessed at individual level | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Arsenic exposure assessed using a biomarker | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Internal comparison within study participants | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Authors controlled for relevant confounding factors (in addition to age, sex, BMI) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Response rate at least 70 % | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | No | Yes | NR |
| Same exclusion criteria applied to all participants | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| Standardized definition of kidney disease/eGFR (if applicable) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Interviewer was blinded with respect to case or exposure status | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | - | NR | NR |
| Data collected in a similar manner for all participants | NR | NR | NR | NR | Yes | NR | Yes | NR |
| Noncases would have been cases if they had developed kidney disease (CC only) | - | - | No | Yes | - | - | Endemic only | NR |
| Authors controlled for healthy worker survivor effect (Occupational only) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Same time period over which cases/controls and exposed/unexposed interviewed | - | - | NR | Yes | - | - | Yes | NR |
| Loss to follow-up independent of exposure | - | - | - | - | - | NR | - | - |