Appendix A.

Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Checklist.

	Item No	Recommendation	Page No
Title and abstract	1	(a) Indicate the study’s design with a commonly used term in the title or the abstract	1
		(b) Provide in the abstract an informative and balanced summary of what was done and what was found	2–3
Introduction
Background/rationale	2	Explain the scientific background and rationale for the investigation being reported	4–5
Objectives	3	State specific objectives, including any prespecified hypotheses	4–5
Methods
Study design	4	Present key elements of study design early in the paper	5
Setting	5	Describe the setting, locations, and relevant dates, including periods of recruitment, exposure, follow-up, and data collection	5–6
Participants	6	(a) Give the eligibility criteria, and the sources and methods of selection of participants. Describe methods of follow-up	5–6
		(b) For matched studies, give matching criteria and number of exposed and unexposed	N/A
Variables	7	Clearly define all outcomes, exposures, predictors, potential confounders, and effect modifiers. Give diagnostic criteria, if applicable	6
Data sources/ measurement	8*	For each variable of interest, give sources of data and details of methods of assessment (measurement). Describe comparability of assessment methods if there is more than one group	6–8
Bias	9	Describe any efforts to address potential sources of bias	N/A
Study size	10	Explain how the study size was arrived at	9
Quantitative variables	11	Explain how quantitative variables were handled in the analyses. If applicable, describe which groupings were chosen and why	6–8
Statistical methods	12	(a) Describe all statistical methods, including those used to control for confounding	8–9
		(b) Describe any methods used to examine subgroups and interactions	N/A
		(c) Explain how missing data were addressed	9
		(d) If applicable, explain how loss to follow-up was addressed	9–10
		(e) Describe any sensitivity analyses	N/A
Results
Participants	13*	(a) Report numbers of individuals at each stage of study—eg numbers potentially eligible, examined for eligibility, confirmed eligible, included in the study, completing follow-up, and analysed	9–10 and Figure 1
		(b) Give reasons for non-participation at each stage	9–10 and Figure 1
		(c) Consider use of a flow diagram	Figure 1
Descriptive data	14*	(a) Give characteristics of study participants (eg demographic, clinical, social) and information on exposures and potential confounders	Table 1
		(b) Indicate number of participants with missing data for each variable of interest	Table 1
		(c) Summarise follow-up time (eg, average and total amount)	6
Outcome data	15*	Report numbers of outcome events or summary measures over time	10 and Figures 2 and 3
Main results	16	(a) Give unadjusted estimates and, if applicable, confounder-adjusted estimates and their precision (eg, 95% confidence interval). Make clear which confounders were adjusted for and why they were included	11 and Table 2
		(b) Report category boundaries when continuous variables were categorized	N/A
		(c) If relevant, consider translating estimates of relative risk into absolute risk for a meaningful time period	N/A
Other analyses	17	Report other analyses done—eg analyses of subgroups and interactions, and sensitivity analyses	N/A
Discussion
Key results	18	Summarise key results with reference to study objectives	11–15
Limitations	19	Discuss limitations of the study, taking into account sources of potential bias or imprecision. Discuss both direction and magnitude of any potential bias	15–16
Interpretation	20	Give a cautious overall interpretation of results considering objectives, limitations, multiplicity of analyses, results from similar studies, and other relevant evidence	11–15
Generalisability	21	Discuss the generalisability (external validity) of the study results	15
Other information
Funding	22	Give the source of funding and the role of the funders for the present study and, if applicable, for the original study on which the present article is based	18