Table 2.
Quality assessment of studies using National Institutes of Health Quality Assessment Tools
| Author | Study design | Objective/population clearly stated | Case consecutive/subjects comparable | Intervention/outcome clearly defined | Length of follow-up adequate | Statistical methods/results well-described | Total score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gnepp et al. [7] | Case series | + / + | + / + | + / + | + | NA/ + | 8 |
| Norberg et al. [8] | Case series | + / + | + / + | + / + | + | NA/ + | 8 |
| Regezi et al. [9] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | NA/ + | 5 |
| Simpson et al. [10] | Case series | + / + | + / + | + / + | + | NA/ + | 8 |
| Skalova et al. [11] | Case series | + / + | + / + | + / + | + | + / + | 9 |
| Perez-Ordonez et al. [12] | Case series | + / + | + / + | + / + | + | NA/ + | 8 |
| Araujo et al. [13] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | NA/ + | 5 |
| Curran et al. [14] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | + / + | 6 |
| Penner et al. [15] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | − / + | 5 |
| Simpson et al. [16] | Case series | + / + | + / + | + / + | + | − / + | 8 |
| Edwards et al. [17] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | − / + | 5 |
| Edwards et al. [18] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | − / + | 5 |
| Nagao et al. [19] | Case series | + / + | + / + | + / + | + | NA/ + | 8 |
| Nikitakis et al. [20] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | + / + | 6 |
| Andreadis et al. [21] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | − / + | 5 |
| Beltran et al. [22] | Case series | + / + | + / + | + / + | + | + / + | 9 |
| Furuse et al. [23] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | NA/ + | 5 |
| Curran et al. [24] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | + / + | 6 |
| Epivatianos et al. [25] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | − / + | 5 |
| Meer et al. [26] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | − / + | 5 |
| Vargas et al. [27] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | + / + | 6 |
| Schwarz et al. [28] | Case series | + / + | + / + | + / + | + | + / + | 9 |
| Dultra et al. [29] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | + / + | 6 |
| Schwartz et al. [30] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | NA/ + | 5 |
| Argyris et al. [31] | Case series | + / + | + / + | + / + | + | NA/ + | 8 |
| Zaib et al. [32] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | − / + | 5 |
| Projetti et al. [33] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | + / + | 6 |
| Rooper et al. [34] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | − / + | 5 |
| Argyris et al. [35] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | − / + | 5 |
| Xu et al. [36] | Case series | + / + | + / + | + / + | + | + / + | 9 |
| Adkins et al. [37] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/ + | + | + / + | 8 |
| Atiq et al. [38] | Case series | + / + | + / + | NA/NA | NA | + / + | 6 |
The scale score ranges from 0 to 9, where 9 is the highest score
NA not applicable