. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Sep 18.

Published in final edited form as: J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2020 Aug 1;50(9):490–502. doi: 10.2519/jospt.2020.9451

Table 4.

GRADE^a evidence profile: potential prognostic factors for 2- to 10-year PROMs in ACL ^b reconstructed patients. Studies with low- and moderate risk of bias (n=7).

		GRADE factors							Summary of findings
Potential prognostic factors (№ of studies)	№ of patients	Study limitations	Inconsistency	Indirectness	Imprecision	Publication bias	Moderate/large effect size	Dose effect	Univariable analysis			Multivariable Analysis^g			Certainty
Potential prognostic factors (№ of studies)	№ of patients	Study limitations	Inconsistency	Indirectness	Imprecision	Publication bias	Moderate/large effect size	Dose effect	+	0	−	+	0	−	Certainty
Sex (1)	448	✕ ^c	✓	✓	✕	✕ ^h	✕	✕					1		⊕◯◯◯ VERY LOW
Age (2)	10612	✕ ^d	✓	✓	✕	✕ ^h	✕	✕		1			1		⊕⊕◯◯LOW
Higher BMI (1)	448	✕ ^c	✓	✓	✕^c	✕ ^h	✕	✕						1	⊕◯◯◯ VERY LOW
Smoking (1)	448	✕ ^c	✕ ^e	✓	✕	✕ ^h	✕	✕						1	⊕◯◯◯ VERY LOW
Ethnicity (1)	448	✕ ^c	✓	✓	✕	✕ ^h	✕	✕					1		⊕◯◯◯ VERY LOW
Type of sport (1)	448	✕ ^c	✓	✓	✕	✕ ^h	✕	✕					1		⊕◯◯◯ VERY LOW
Concomitant MCL or LCL injuries (2)	15652	✕ ^d	✓	✓	✕	✕ ^h	✕	✕					2		⊕⊕◯◯LOW
Concomitant meniscus injuries (4)	31556	✓	✕ ^e	✓	✓	✕ ^h	✓	✕					1	3	⊕⊕⊕◯MODERATE
Concomitant cartilage injuries (4)	31556	✓	✕ ^e	✓	✓	✕ ^h	✓	✓					1	4	⊕⊕⊕◯MODERATE
Hearing pop at injury (1)	448	✕ ^c	✓	✓	✕	✕ ^h	✕	✕					1		⊕◯◯◯ VERY LOW
Preoperative knee laxity (1)	2333	✕ ^c	✓	✓	✕	✕ ^h	✕	✕					1		⊕◯◯◯ VERY LOW
Preoperative extension deficit (1)	121	✕ ^f	✓	✓	✕	✕ ^h	✕	✕					1		⊕◯◯◯ VERY LOW
Higher baseline PROMs (2)	569	✕ ^d	✕ ^e	✓	✕	✕ ^h	✕	✕				2			⊕◯◯◯ VERY LOW

For uni− and multivariable analyses: +, number of significant effects with a positive value; 0, number of non-significant effects; −, number of significant effects with a negative value.

For GRADE factors: ✓, no serious limitations; ✕, serious limitations (or not present for moderate/large effect size, dose effect)

^a)

Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation

^b)

Anterior Cruciate Ligament

^c)

Evidence is based on only one study with moderate risk of bias

^d)

Evidence is based on only two studies with moderate risk of bias

^e)

Inconsistency within/between study/studies

^f)

Evidence is based on only one study with low risk of bias

^g)

Summary of authors conclusions when several outcomes for each factor were assessed

^h)

Due to a small number of included studies, we could not assess small study biases with a funnel plot. We therefore cannot rule out publication bias