Table 4.
Quality assessment using the GRADE approach.
| Certainty assessment | No of patients | Effect | Certainty | Importance | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No of studies | Study design |
Risk of bias |
Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Other considerations | Facemask | No-facemask | Relative (95% CI) | Absolute (95% CI) | ||
| What is the effect of facemasks on ETCO2 in COPD patients? (assessed with: ETCO2) | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Non-randomized controlled trial studies | Seriousa | Not serious | Not serious | Seriousb | None | 105 | 112 | – | MD 0.10 mm Hg higher (1.57 lower to 1.78 higher) | ⊕○○○ Very low | Not important |
| What is the effect of facemasks on RR in COPD patients? (assessed with: RR) | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Non-randomized controlled trial studies | Seriousa | Not serious | Not serious | Seriousb | None | 105 | 112 | – | MD 1.00 breaths/min higher (0.47 higher to 1.53 higher) | ⊕○○○ Very low | Not important |
Author(s): XWC, CQZ, and JCF.
Question: What is the effect of facemasks on physiological indexes in COPD patients?
Setting: COPD patients.
CI, confidence interval; MD, mean difference.
a
Downgraded by 1 for risk of bias: pooled result includes 2 non-RCT (high risk of selection bias).
b
Downgraded by 1 for imprecision: 2 trials with small sample size (n = 97; n = 15).