Quality assessment results.
| Items (Study) | Reporting | External validity | Internal validity -bias | Internal validity-confounding | Total (%) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 25 | ||
| Tomkins-Lane et al. 2012 [22] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11/16 (68.75%) |
| van den Hoorn et al. 2012 [23] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13/16 (81.25%) |
| Crosbie et al. 2013 [24] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11/16 (68.75%) |
| Müller et al. 2015 [25] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 12/16 (75%) |
| Barzilay et al. 2016 [15] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12/6 (75%) |
| Vickers et al. 2017 [16] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12/16 (75%) |
| Tabard-Fougère et al. 2018 [27] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8/16 (50%) |
| Hicks et al. 2017 [26] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8/16 (50%) |
| Demirel et al. 2020 [28] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 12/16 (75%) |
| Jiménez-Del-Barrio et al. 2020 [29] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13/16 (81.25%) |
| Castro-Méndez et al. 2020 [30] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13/16 (81.25%) |
| Lee et al. 2021 [31] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11/16 (68.75%) |
| Lin et al. 2023 [32] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10/16 (62.5%) |
1) Is the hypothesis/aim/objective of the study clearly described? 2) Are the main outcomes described clearly? 3) Are the characteristics of participants described clearly? 5) Is the distribution of principal confounders described clearly? 6) Are the main findings described clearly? 7) Are estimates of the random variability provided? 10) Are actual probability values reported? 11) Were the participants asked to join the study representative of the entire population? 12) Were the participants preparing to participate representative of the entire population? 16) Was it clear if results were based on “data dredging”? 18) Were the statistical tests used to assess the main outcomes appropriate? 20) Were the measurements used for main outcomes accurate? 21) Were the study group and controls recruited from the same population? 22) Were the study group and controls recruited from the same period? 25) Was confounding adequately adjusted? The scoring criteria were based on the methodological quality assessment checklist proposed by Downs and Black [19].