Table 3.
Quality of evidence*
| Study | Randomization; allocation concealment | Losses > 20% | Blinding Quality of evidence1 | Intervention quality | Quality of evidence1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hosseinian (2012) | -1 | No information | ---- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Asadpour (2012) | -1 | No information | ----- | ----- | Moderate(-1) |
| Zarepour (2010) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Salimi (2012) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Nasr Isfahani (2013) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Etemadi (2006) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Ebrahimi (2011) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Rezaei (2013) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Shakarami (2014) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Ghadam Kheir (2013) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Mazlomi (2012) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Etemadi (2014) | -1 | --- | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Hosseini Zand (2013) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Shariatzadeh (2014) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Oulia (2006) | -1 | --- | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Babaei Garmkhani (2014) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Botlani (2010) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Hosseini (2013) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Nasr Isfahani (2010) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Bahrami (2009) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Durana (1997) | -1 | --- | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Khanjani Veshki (2012) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Duffey (2004) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Nayari (2014) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Hajian (2013) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Nasirnejhad Karaj (2014) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Mami (2015) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Farbod (2014) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Mohamadi (2013) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Coutta (2001) | -1 | -1 | --- | --- | Low(-2) |
| Nasirnejhad Tehran (2014) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Sharifian (2011) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Hickmon (1997) | -1 | No information | +1 | --- | High(0) |
| Soltani (2013) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Denton (2000) | -1 | -1 | --- | --- | Low(-2) |
| Karimi (2012) | -1 | No information | --- | -1 | Low(-2) |
| Yousefi (2014) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
| Momeni Javid (2014) | -1 | No information | --- | --- | Moderate(-1) |
*
Quality could be high, moderate, low, or very low. We considered these RCTs to be high quality then downgraded a level for each of the following: A) lack of information on random sequence, allocation concealed, or lack of allocation concealed B) low quality interventions (Table 2), c) loss of more than 20% at follow-up. We upgraded one level for the studies that performed some blinding.