Table 1. Combined GRADE and summary of findings table.
| Quality assessment | Number of patients | Effect | Quality | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # of trials | Outcome | Risk of bias | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Other considerations | E-stim | Placebo | Relative | Absolute | |
| (95% CI) | (95% CI) | ||||||||||
| 15 | Radiographic nonunion | Not serious | Not serious | Serious4 | Not serious | None | 162/625 (25.9%) | 255/622 (41.0%) | RR 0.65 (0.53 to 0.81) | 143 fewer per 1000 (from 78 fewer to 193 fewer) | ⊕⊕⊕⊖ MODERATE |
| 35.0% | 123 fewer per 1000 (from 73 fewer to 163 fewer) | ||||||||||
| 4 | Pain | Not serious | Not serious | Not serious | Serious3 | Not serious | 307 | 305 | — | SMD 0.34 lower (0.62 lower to 0.05 lower) | ⊕⊕⊕⊖ MODERATE |
| 2 | Functional outcome | Serious1 | Serious2 | Not serious | Not serious | None | 161 | 155 | — | SMD 0.07 higher (0.33 lower to 0.48 higher) | ⊕⊕⊖⊖ LOW |
SMD–standard mean difference, RR–relative risk Rated down primarily due to incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) and selective reporting (reporting bias).
1Rated down primarily due to incomplete outcome data (attrition bias).
2Unexplained heterogeneity, I2 = 81%.
395% CI includes values below and above the minimal important difference (MID).
4Surrogate outcome.