Table 2 Reporting quality of key methodologic items (n = 39)
Item | Criteria | Description | Number of positive trials | % | 95% CI | Cohen’s к coefficient | 95% CI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
8 | Randomization | Description of the method used to generate the random sequence | 26 | 67 | 51 to 82 | 0.83 | 0.72 to 0.98 |
9 and 10 | Allocation concealment and implementation | Description of the method used to implement the random allocation sequence assuring the concealment until interventions are assigned | 19 | 49 | 31 to 64 | 0.71 | 0.55 to 0.94 |
11 | Blinding | Whether or not participants, those administering the interventions, or those assessing the outcomes were blinded to group assignment | 20 | 51 | 27 to 55 | 0.72 | 0.48 to 0.95 |
15 | Baseline data | An outline of baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of each group | 38 | 97 | 92 to 100 | 0.65 | 0.49 to 0.97 |
16 | Intention-to-treat analysis | Number of participants in each group included in each analysis and whether it was done by ‘intention-to-treat’ | 17 | 44 | 27 to 60 | 0.92 | 0.80 to 0.99 |