5. Characteristics of included non‐Cochrane systematic reviews ‐ pharmacological.

Review title	Date of search	No. studies included	Inclusion criteria for "Types of participants"	Comparison interventions (no. studies)	Outcomes for which data were reported that could be included in an analysis	Summary of quality of evidence in reviews (risk of bias)
Epidural ropivacaine versus bupivacaine for labor: a meta‐analysis (Halpern 2003a)	15 March 2002	23 studies (2074 women)	Labouring women	Ropivacaine versus bupivacaine (23 studies, 2074 women)	Pain intensity (time to onset of analgesia) Satisfaction with pain relief (numbers with "excellent analgesia") Assisted vaginal birth Caesarean section Side effects for mother (hypotension; nausea or vomiting) Apgar score less than seven at five minutes	Assessed the quality of studies using the Jadad quality index score. This scale has a maximum of 5 points. Studie are considered high quality if the score is 3 or more. Score of 5: 4 studies Score of 4: 8 studies Score of 3: 5 studies Score of 2: 1 study NA (not applicable): 4 studies 1 study unpublished data and so not assessed
Fetal bradycardia due to intrathecal opioids for labour analgesia: a systematic review  (Mardirosoff 2002)	25 January 2001	24 studies (3513 women)	Labouring women	Any intrathecal opioid with or without local anaesthetic versus any analgesic regimen that excluded intrathecal opioids (24 studies, 3513 women)	Assisted vaginal birth Casaerean section Side effects for mother (pruritus) Side effects for baby (fetal heart rate abnormalities; fetal bradycardia) Apgar score less than seven at five minutes	Assessed adequacy of randomisation; blinding; and description of withdrawals, according to a 5‐point Oxford scale. Median quality score was 3.5 (range 1 to 5)