Table 3.

Quality assessment results of evidence used based on the hierarchy of data sources by Cooper et al. [12]

Input parameters	Hierarchy of data sources								% Agreement*
	1	2	3	4	5	6	9	#
Clinical effect sizes	16 (27%)	0	0	29 (49%)	0	2 (3%)	4 (7%)	8 (14%)	85
Baseline clinical data	4 (7%)	1 (2%)	0	51 (85%)	1 (2%)	1 (2%)	1 (2%)		81
Resource use	7 (12%)	51 (86%)	0	0	0	1 (2%)	0		92
Costs	6(10%)	53 (90%)	0	0	0	0	0		85
Utility	2(5%)	0	38 (93%)	1 (2%)	0	0	0		97

# Meta-analysis of case-control with direct comparison between comparator therapies and measuring final outcomes

*Percentage of agreement between two independent raters