Table 1.
Trial characteristics by Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scores of below 6 or 6 and above
| All Trials | PEDro Score <6 | PEDro Score ≥6 | P Value* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of trials | 345 | 188 | 157 | |
| PEDro score | 5.00 (4.00‐7.00) | 5.00 (4.00‐5.00) | 7.00 (6.00‐7.00) | <.001 |
| Year of publication | 2002 (1998‐2004) | 2000 (1997‐2004) | 2003 (1999‐2005) | <.001 |
| Trial design | .25 | |||
| Parallel | 322 (93%) | 174 (93%) | 148 (94%) | |
| Factorial | 15 (4.3%) | 7 (3.7%) | 8 (5.1%) | |
| Crossover | 7 (2.0%) | 6 (3.2%) | 1 (0.6%) | |
| Cluster | 1 (0.29%) | 1 (0.53%) | 0 (0.0%) | |
| Multicentric study | 85 (25%) | 30 (16%) | 55 (35%) | <.001 |
| Hypothesis | .41 | |||
| Superiority | 317 (92%) | 169 (90%) | 148 (94%) | |
| Equivalence | 15 (4.3%) | 11 (5.9%) | 4 (2.5%) | |
| Noninferiority | 4 (1.2%) | 2 (1.1%) | 2 (1.3%) | |
| Unclear/no comparison | 9 (2.6%) | 6 (3.2%) | 3 (1.9%) | |
| Placebo‐controlled | 28 (8.1%) | 9 (4.8%) | 19 (12%) | .017 |
| Study population | .20 | |||
| Adult | 218 (63%) | 122 (65%) | 96 (61%) | |
| Geriatric | 116 (34%) | 57 (30%) | 59 (38%) | |
| Pediatric | 5 (1.4%) | 4 (2.1%) | 1 (0.6%) | |
| Unclear | 6 (1.7%) | 5 (2.7%) | 1 (0.6%) | |
| Interventions | .031 | |||
| Exercise | 266 (77%) | 154 (82%) | 112 (71%) | |
| Education | 9 (2.6%) | 5 (2.7%) | 4 (2.5%) | |
| Manual therapy | 13 (3.8%) | 4 (2.1%) | 9 (5.7%) | |
| Acupuncture | 8 (2.3%) | 1 (0.53%) | 7 (4.5%) | |
| Other | 49 (14%) | 24 (13%) | 25 (16%) | |
| Outcome source | .036 | |||
| Clinician assessment | 128 (37%) | 82 (44%) | 46 (29%) | |
| Self‐reported | 180 (52%) | 86 (46%) | 94 (60%) | |
| Laboratory data | 15 (4.3%) | 9 (4.8%) | 6 (3.8%) | |
| Administrative data | 22 (6.4%) | 11 (5.9%) | 11 (7.0%) | |
| Sample size | ||||
| Randomized | 72.0 (41.0‐148) | 59.0 (32.0‐109) | 104 (60.0‐191) | <.001 |
| Analyzeda | 63.0 (37.0‐128) | 49.0 (30.0‐95.0) | 93.0 (54.0‐170) | <.001 |
| Fundingb | ||||
| Industry | 36 (10%) | 17 (9.0%) | 19 (12%) | .86 |
| Government | 183 (53%) | 79 (42%) | 104 (66%) | .002 |
| Academic | 41 (12%) | 23 (12%) | 18 (11%) | .50 |
| Foundation | 96 (28%) | 46 (24%) | 50 (32%) | .70 |
| No funding | 18 (5.2%) | 12 (6.4%) | 6 (3.8%) | .22 |
| Not declared | 69 (20%) | 50 (27%) | 19 (12%) | .001 |
Note. Numbers (%) or medians (interquartile range) are shown.
a
Unknown for 10 trials with a PEDro score <6 and 1 trial with a PEDro score ≥6.
b
Does not add up to 100% as multiple entries are possible.
*
P values obtained from Wilcoxon rank‐sum and Fisher exact tests for continuous and categorical variables, respectively.