Table 4.
Assessment of study quality—uncontrolled observational studies using Newcastle-Ottawa scale
| Study (reference no) | Intervention | Selection | Comparability | Outcome | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelhamer 1985 (32) | CYC | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Hoffman 1994 (33) | MTX | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Hahn 1998 (34) | CYC | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Valsakumar 2003 (35) | AZA | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| de Franciscis 2007 (38) | MTX + CYC | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Shinjo 2007 (39) | MMF | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Goel 2010 (41) | MMF | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| de Souza 2012 (42) | LEF | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Stern 2014 (53) | CYC | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Li 2016 (58) | MMF | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Ohigashi 2017 (64) | MTX, CSA, AZA, TAC | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Cui 2020 (82) | LEF | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Wei 2021 (97) | CYC | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Mustapha 2020 (99) | LEF | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Li 2020 (86) | Tofacitinib | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Nakagomi 2018 (71) | Rituximab | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Pazzola 2018 (75) | Rituximab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Hoffman 2004 (36) | TNFi (ETAN, IFX) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Baldissera 2007 (37) | TNFi (IFX, ADA, ETAN) | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Molloy 2010 (40) | TNFi (IFX, ETAN) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Mekininan 2012 (43) | TNFi (IFX) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Quartuccio 2012 (44) | TNFi (IFX) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Schmidt 2012 (45) | TNFi IIFX, ADA, ETAN) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Tombetti 2013 (48) | TNFi (IFX, ADA, GOL) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Serra 2014 (52) | TNFi (ADA, IFX) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Youngstein 2014 (54) | TNFi (IFX, ADA, ETAN) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Kleinmann 2017 (62) | TNFi (IFX) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Novikov 2018 (73) | TNFi (CER) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Park 2018 (74) | TNFi (IFX) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Banerjee 2020 (79) | TNFi (IFX) | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Campochiaro 2020 (81) | TNFi (IFX) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Mertz 2020 (88) | TNFi (IFX) | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Erbasan 2020 (98) | TNFi (IFX), Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Abisror 2013 (46) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Goel 2013 (47) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Tombetti 2013 (49) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Canas 2014 (50) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Loricera 2014 (51) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Novikov 2015 (56) | Tocilizumab | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Loricera 2016 (59) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Zhou 2017 (68) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Mekinian 2018 (70) | Tocilizumab | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Kato M 2019 (76) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Shah 2019 (77) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Gon 2020 (84) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Kilic 2020 (85) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Mekinian 2020 (87) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Prieto-Pena 2020 (91) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Wang 2020 (92) | Tocilizumab | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Isobe 2021 (95) | Tocilizumab | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
AZA azathioprine, ADA adalimumab, CER certolizumab, CYC cyclophosphamide, ETAN etanercept, GOL golimumab, IFX infliximab, LEF leflunomide, MMF mycophenolate mofetil, MTX methotrexate, TNFi tumour necrosis factor alpha inhibitors