Table 4.
Quality rating of the included studies according to Effective Public Health Practice Project’s Qualitative Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies
| Reference | Overall quality assessment | Selection bias | Study design | Confounders | Blinding | Data collection | Withdrawals and drop outs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chen et al. [44] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Mazul et al. [34] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Hashim et al. [20] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Laprise et al. [45] | Strong | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Friemel et al. [21] | Strong | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Dholam and Chouksey [46] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Bertl et al. [31] | Moderate | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Huang J et al. [47] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Tsai et al. [48] | Strong | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Ahrens et al. [22] | Strong | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Narayan et al. [49] | Weak | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Moergal et al. [23] | Moderate | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Eliot et al. [35] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Chang et al. [50] | Strong | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Langevin et al. [4] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Frydrych et al. [53] | Moderate | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Groome et al. [3] | Strong | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Macfarlane et al. [24] | Strong | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Johnson et al. [36] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Divaris et al. [18] | Strong | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Watson et al. [1] | Moderate | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Marques et al. [39] | Strong | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Guha et al. [40] | Strong | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Rosenquist et al. [56] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Guneri et al. [26] | Moderate | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Lissowska et al. [27] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Gellrich et al. [32] | Weak | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Balram et al. [52] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Garrote et al. [41] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Winn et al. [42] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Moreno-Lopez et al. [54] | Strong | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Talamini et al. [28] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Bundgaard et al. [29] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Lockhart et al. [38] | Weak | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Maier et al. [30] | Moderate | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Marshall et al. [37] | Moderate | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Zheng et al. [51] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Franco et al. [43] | Strong | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Elwood et al. [2] | Strong | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |