Stroke aetiological classification reliability and effect on trial sample size: systematic review, meta-analysis and statistical modelling

Table 1 Characteristics of included studies

Study	Subject no.	Assessors	Assessor no.	Country	Stroke classification	Single site
Inter-rater reliability studies
Arsava et al., 2010 [27]	50	Various physicians^a	15	International^d	CCS	No
Ay et al., 2005 [17]	50	Neurologists	2	USA	CCS/TOAST	No
Ay et al., 2007 [28]	50	Neurologists	5	USA	CCS	No
Chen et al., 2013 [25]	419	Stroke neurologists	2	China	ASCO	Yes
Fure et al., 2005 [16]	38	Junior registrars, experienced physicians	4	Norway	TOAST	Yes
Goldstein et al., 2001 [19]	14	Neurologists, internists	4	USA	TOAST computerised algorithm/ TOAST	No
Gordon et al., 1993 [22]	18	Neurologists	24	USA	TOAST	Yes
Han et al., 2007 [15]	200	Neurologists	3	Korea	Han et al., 2007/TOAST	Yes
Marnane et al., 2010 [26]	381	Physicians^b	U	Ireland	ASCO/CCS	Yes
Meschia et al., 2006 [20]	30	Neurologists	6	USA	TOAST	No
Nam et al., 2012 [21]	70	Residents, stroke experts	7	Korea	iTOAST/ TOAST	Yes
Selvarajah et al.,2009 [18]	90	Various stroke physicians^c	4	UK	TOAST	Yes
Wolf et al., 2012 [23]	103	Stroke physician	2	Germany	ASCO/ TOAST	Yes
Intra-rater reliability studies
Cotter et al., 2011 [24]	106	U	U	UK	ASCO/ TOAST	Yes

All studies were retrospective reviews of clinical materials
U unknown, CCS Causative Classification of Stroke System, TOAST Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment, ASCO atherosclerosis, small vessel disease, cardiac source
^aIncluded stroke neurologists, clinical neuroscientist, stroke fellowship, trained emergency physician, neurology resident
^bIncluded trained stroke physician, nonstroke specialist
^cIncluded senior lecturer and research fellow in stroke medicine, clinical consultant neurologist, senior house officer in clinical neurology
^dIncluded USA, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Sweden, UK, Nigeria

ISSN: 1745-6215