Table 2. Study distribution, patients and injections characteristics.
RCT-Randomized control trial, DB- Double blind, SB-single blind, NB-non blind, SR-simple randomization, OL-open labelled, KL- Kelly-green and Lawrence, LMW-Low molecular weight, HMW-High molecular weight, NA- not available, SP-study preparation
| Studies | ||||||||
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | TOTAL | ||
| RCT-DB | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 22 (57.9%) | |
| RCT-SB | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 08 (21%) | |
| RCT-NB | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 03 (7.9%) | |
| RCT-SR | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 04 (10.5%) | |
| RCT-OL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 01 (2.7%) | |
| TOTAL | 3 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 4 | 38 (100%) | |
| Patients’ characteristics | ||||||||
| No. of patients | 628 | 701 | 665 | 1300 | 1426 | 305 | 5025 | |
| Mean age (years) | 62.5 | 61.4 | 60.85 | 58.28 | 59.44 | 59.25 | 60.28(mean) | |
| OA grade (KL) | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | 1-3 | ||
| Injections characteristics | ||||||||
| No. of injections | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 20 (56.6%) |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 02 (5.3%) | |
| 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 11 (28.9%) | |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 00 (0.0%) | |
| 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 05 (13.2%) | |
| HA preparations | LMW | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 08 (21%) |
| HMW | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 24 (63.2%) | |
| NA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 06 (15.8%) | |
| HA used as | SP | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 19 (50%) |
| Control | 0 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 19 (50%) | |