Table 3.
Assessment of quality of included prospective studies.
| References | Selection | Comparability | outcome | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Representativeness of treated arm | Selection of the comparative treatment arm(s) | Ascertainment of the treatment regimen | Demonstration that outcome of interest was not present at start of study | Comparability between patients in different treatment arms: main factor | Comparability between patients in different treatment arms: secondary factor | Assessment of outcome with independency | Adequacy of follow-up length (to assess outcome) | Lost to follow-up acceptable (<10% and reported) | |
| Castaño-Leon et al. (41) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | |
| Broersen et al. (37) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | |
| Little et al. (38) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | |
| Prajapati et al. (35) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | |
| Zaidi et al. (30) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | |
| Little et al. (29) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | |
| Kahilogullari et al. (20) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | |
| Jain et al. (10) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | |
Y, Yes; N, No.