Table 1.

Study characteristics.

References	Diagnosis criteria	Country	Study types	Mean age (SD), years		Sample size		Male/Female		Symptom duration in years (SD)		Dropout rates (%)
				SMG	CG	SMG	CG	SMG	CG	SMG	CG	SMG	CG
Bunsanong et al. [31]	Physician diagnosed	Thailand	RCT	52.35 (5.82)	63.00 (5.47)	20	20	Not reported		3.20 (3.41)	3.30 (2.54)	5.0	15.0
Coleman et al. [28]	Physician diagnosed	Australia	RCT	65.00 (7.90)	65.00 (8.70)	71	75	14/57	23/52	Not reported		4.2	9.3
Ganji et al. [40]	Physician diagnosed	Iran	RCT	65.34 (6.19)	64.58 (4.67)	41	41	Not reported		Not reported		0	2.4
Gay et al. [32]	ACR (1986)	France	RCT	66.60 (6.40)	64.70 (7.10)	54	69	9/45	13/56	12.10 (7.70)	11.20 (7.70)	3.7	21.7
Hatefi et al. [41]	Physician diagnosed	Iran	RCT	75.36 (6.58)	79.26 (14.17)	41	42	0/41	0/42	4.43 (1.00)	4.02 (1.17)	0	0
Kao et al. [33]	ACR (1991)	China	RCT	67.30 (10.10)	68.20 (11.20)	114	91	22/92	26/65	Not reported		17.5	37.3
Khachian et al. [42]	Physician diagnosed	Iran	RCT	58.97 (Not reported)	58.02 (Not reported)	40	40	12/28	10/30	Not reported		0	0
Mazzuca et al. [43]	ACR (1986)	USA	RCT	61.80 (12.50)	61.80 (11.90)	111	75	29/82	22/53	Not reported		Not reported
Omidi et al. [44]	Physician diagnosed	Iran	RCT	57.12 (9.16)	58.76 (8.31)	50	50	12/38	10/40	Not reported		8.0	8.0
Rezende et al. [45]	ACR (1991)	Brazil	RCT	63.80 (9.50)	63.20 (8.70)	95	96	16/79	20/76	Not reported		16.8	15.6
Wu et al. [46]	ACR (1986)	China	RCT	67.27 (10.05)	68.18 (11.21)	114	91	22/92	26/65	Not reported		17.5	37.3
Yip et al. [47]	ACR (1991)	China	RCT	64.80 (10.58)	63.40 (10.73)	45	50	5/40	9/41	8.04 (5.92)	6.72 (6.02)	35.5	52.0
Yip et al. [48]	ACR (1991)	China	RCT	65.00 (Not reported)		88	94	Not reported		8.00 (Not reported)		23.8	43.6

ACR, American College of Rheumatology; RCT, Randomized controlled trial; SD, Standard deviation; SMG, Self-mangement group; CG, Control group.