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Table 1 Characteristics of the selected systematic reviews

From: Applicability and generalisability of the results of systematic reviews to public health practice and policy: a systematic review

 

All reviews N = 98

Cochrane reviews N = 57

Non-Cochrane reviews N = 41

Tobacco use N = 49

HIV infection N = 49

Type of treatment, N (%)

     

   Pharmacological treatment

33 (34)

23 (40)

10 (24)

17 (35)

16 (33)

   Nonpharmacological treatment

59 (60)

28 (49)

31 (76)

28 (57)

31 (63)

   Both treatments

6 (6)

6 (10)

0

4 (8)

2 (4)

Therapist-dependent intervention, N (%)

45 (46)

25 (44)

20 (49)

23 (47)

22 (45)

Method of the review, N (%)

     

   Quantitative analysis

79 (81)

44 (77)

35 (85)

40 (82)

39 (79.6)

Number of studies included, median (Q1-Q3)

14 (7-25)

9 (5-21)

18 (12-27)

14 (7-26)

14 (7-20)

Trial design, N (%)

     

   Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) only

68 (69)

46 (81)

22 (54)

42 (86)

26 (53)

   RCTs + nonrandomized trials

24 (24)

8 (14)

16 (39)

5 (10)

19 (39)

   Nonrandomized trials only

6 (6)

3 (5)

3 (7)

2 (4)

4 (8)

Reporting of key data to describe included studies in a table or figure, N (%)

87 (88)

53 (93)

33 (88)

40 (82)

46 (94)

Internal validity assessment, N (%)

71 (72)

53 (91)

18 (44)

35 (86)

36 (73)

   Quality score

11 (11)

1 (2)

10 (24)

10 (20)

1 (2)

   Allocation sequence generation

44 (52)

37 (65)

7 (17)

30 (61)

14 (29)

   Allocation concealment

59 (58)

51 (89)

8 (19)

31 (63)

28 (57)

   Blinding of participants

21 (21)

17 (30)

4 (10)

6 (12)

15 (31)

   Blinding of care providers

22 (22)

18 (32)

4 (10)

5 (10)

17 (35)

   Blinding of outcome assessors

10 (10)

6 (10)

4 (15)

4 (12)

6 (12)

   Intent-to-treat analysis

13 (13)

8 (14)

5 (12)

5 (10)

8 (16)

Method to account for internal validity, N (%)

     

   Sensitivity analysis

8 (8)

3 (5)

5 (12)

4 (8)

4 (8)

   Weighting factor

0

0

0

0

0

   Meta regression

0

0

0

0

0

   Narrative discussion of internal validity

52 (52)

48 (84)

4 (10)

23 (47)

26 (53)

  1. Q1-Q3 = interquartile range 1 to 3