Table 2.
Mann–Whitney test comparisons between the trials that did and did not report 95% confidence intervals for at least one outcome for three characteristics: number of participants, total PEDro score, and number of primary outcomes identified.
| Characteristic Year |
Reported 95% confidence interval | Did not report 95% confidence interval | p value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | |||
| 1986 | 49 [49; 49] | 50 [27; 94] | N/A* |
| 1996 | 80 [43; 239] | 57 [35; 101] | 0.20 |
| 2006 | 108 [80; 248] | 75 [44; 131] | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 114 [49; 252] | 60 [33; 103] | 0.008 |
| PEDro score (0–10) | |||
| 1986 | 3 [3; 3] | 4 [3; 5] | N/A* |
| 1996 | 6 [5; 6] | 4 [4; 5] | 0.004 |
| 2006 | 6 [6; 8] | 5 [4; 7] | 0.000 |
| 2016 | 7 [6; 8] | 5 [5; 7] | 0.000 |
| Number of primary outcomes | |||
| 1986 | 0 [0; 0] | 4 [1; 9] | N/A* |
| 1996 | 9.5 [1; 18] | 1 [1; 3] | 0.49 |
| 2006 | 1 [1; 1] | 1 [1; 3] | 0.49 |
| 2016 | 1 [1; 1] | 2 [1; 3] | 0.02 |
*
Not applicable to statistical analysis due to the low number of trials reporting confidence intervals in 1986.