. 2021 Jun 21;11:13007. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-92366-x

Table 4.

Pooled estimates of the time to complete corneal healing and risk of adverse events between adjuvant amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) and standard antimicrobial treatment (SAT) alone based on comparative studies, including randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized controlled studies (NRCS).

IK Cohort	No. of studies	Types of studies	No. of eyes	Pooled estimates (95% CI)
Time to complete corneal healing (estimates presented in mean difference, MD)
Bacterial	2	1 RCT²⁰	124	− 2.42 (− 4.53 to − 0.32)
Bacterial	2	1 NRCS²³	124	− 2.42 (− 4.53 to − 0.32)
Fungal	3	2 RCTs^22,33	168	− 6.90 (− 11.58 to − 2.21)
Fungal	3	1 NRCS³⁴	168	− 6.90 (− 11.58 to − 2.21)
Risk of adverse events (estimates presented in risk ratio, RR)
Bacterial	2	1 RCT²⁰	124	0.83 (0.45–1.54)
Bacterial	2	1 NRCS²³	124	0.83 (0.45–1.54)
Fungal	2	2 RCTs^22,33	70	0.28 (0.05–1.65)
Mixed bacteria and fungi	2	1 RCT²¹	108	1.50 (0.28–8.04)
Mixed bacteria and fungi	2	1 NRCS³⁵	108	1.50 (0.28–8.04)

A negative MD value indicates that adjuvant AMT group has a shorter time to complete corneal healing compared to SAT alone group.

IK infectious keratitis, CI confidence interval.