Appendix Table 4:
Individual category and overall risk of bias scores for each study.
| Author | Sequence Generation | Allocation Concealment | Blinding of Participants and Personnel | Blinding of Outcome Assessors | Incomplete Outcome Data | Selective Outcome Reporting | Other Sources of Bias | Overall Risk of Bias |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aiello A et al., 2010 (36) | Low | Low | Low | Unclear | Low | Unclear | Low | Low |
| Aiello A et al., 2012 (37) | Low | Unclear | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low |
| Alfelali M et al., 2019 (38) | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Unclear | High | Medium |
| Barasheed O et al., 2014 (39) | Unclear | Unclear | Low | High | Low | Low | High | High |
| Canini L et al., 2010 (40) | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | High | Low |
| Cowling B et al., 2009 (41) | Low | Low | Low | Unclear | Low | Low | Low | Low |
| Larson E et al., 2010 (42) | High | Unclear | Low | Unclear | Low | Low | Low | Medium |
| MacIntyre C et al., 2009 (43) | Unclear | Unclear | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low | Low |
| MacIntyre C et al., 2016 (44) | Low | Low | Low | Low | Unclear | Low | Low | Low |
| Simmerman J et al., 2011 (45) | Low | Low | Unclear | Unclear | Low | Low | Low | Low |
| Suess T et al., 2012 (46) | Low | Low | Low | Unclear | Low | Low | Low | Low |
High = study showed clear red flags when addressing the bias issues in Appendix Table 3; Unclear = study did not address the bias issues in Appendix Table 3; Low = study properly addressed bias issues in Appendix Table 3