Table 5.
Modified downs and black scores.
| Article | Reporting | External validity | Internal validity: bias | Internal validity: confounding | Total | Percent | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Is the hypothesis or objective clearly stated? | 2. Are the main outcomes to be measured clearly described? | 3. Are the characteristics of the participants clearly described? | 5. Are the distributions of principle confounders clearly described? | 6. Are the main findings of the study clearly described? | 7. Estimates of the random variability in the data for the main outcome? | 10. Have actual probability values been reported? | 11. Were the subjects asked representative of the entire population? | 12. Were those subjects used representative of the entire population? | 16. Were any of the results based on “data dredging”? | 18. Were the statistical tests used to assess main outcome measures appropriate? | 20. Were the main outcome measures used accurate? (valid and reliable?) | 21. Were cases and controls from the same population? | 22. Were the cases and controls recruited over the same period of time? | 25. Was there adequate adjustment for confounding in the analysis? | |||
| Allen et al. [25] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | NA | 0 | 0 | 1 | NA | 1 | 0 | 1 | NA | 9 | 69% |
| Barroso et al. [34] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | NA | NA | 1 | 12 | 75% |
| Bowden et al. [26] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 75% |
| Clark et al. [14] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 81% |
| Coscia et al. [27] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 69% |
| Ferrante et al. [28] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | NA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 60% |
| Gizzi et al. [29] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 69% |
| Hashiguchi et al. [30] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 75% |
| Kautz et al. [31] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 81% |
| Routson et al. [32] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 81% |
| Routson et al. [33] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 81% |