Table 5.
Assessment of study quality—observational studies* with control group using Newcastle-Ottawa scale
| Study (reference no) | Intervention | Comparator | Selection | Comparability | Outcome | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| de Souza 2016 (57) | LEF | other DMARDs | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Aeschlimann 2017 (60) | MTX | CYC | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Sun 2017 (67) | CYC | MTX | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Dai 2020 (83) | LEF | CYC | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Wu 2020 (93) | LEF | MTX | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Ying 2020 (94) | LEF | CYC | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| Mekinian 2015 (55) | TNFi | Tocilizumab | 4 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Gudbrandsson 2017 (61) | TNFi | cDMARDs | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Kong 2018 (69) | Tocilizumab | CYC | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Wang 2019 (78) | Tocilizumab | CYC | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Pan 2020 (90) | Tocilizumab | cDMARDs | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Campochiaro 2020 (80) | TNFi | Tocilizumab | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
CYC cyclophosphamide, DMARDs disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, cDMARDs conventional DMARDs, LEF leflunomide, HCQ hydroxychloroquine, MTX methotrexate, TNFi tumour necrosis factor alpha inhibitors
*Newcastle-Ottawa Scale could not be assessed for Rongyi 2021 (95) due to inability to access the full text of the paper