Table 4.
Quality assessment of cohort studies (34).
| References | Selection | Comparability | Outcome | Total quality score | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
(1)
Representativeness of the exposed cohort |
(2)
Selection of the non-exposed cohort |
(3)
Ascertainment of exposure |
(4)
Demonstration that outcome of interest was not present at start of study |
(1)
Comparability of cohorts on the basis of the design or analysisa |
(1)
Assessment of outcome |
(2)
Was follow-up long enough for outcomes to occur? |
(3) Adequacy of follow up of cohorts | ||
| Rehse et al. (19) | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | 8 | |
| Desmarais et al. (48) | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | 6 | ||
| Ogino et al. (50) | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | 9 |
| Drimer et al. (49) | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | 3 | |||||
| Tracy et al. (51) | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆⋆ | ⋆ | ⋆ | 8 | |
a
A maximum of 2 stars can be awarded for this item. A study controlling for age receives one star, and a study controlling for other major risk factors receives an additional star.