Table 1 General characteristics of therapeutic meta-analyses published in 2013 and including non-randomized studies of intervention (n = 188)
From: Meta-analyses including non-randomized studies of therapeutic interventions: a methodological review
Characteristic | Included NRSI only | Included NRSI&RCTs | All meta-analyses |
|---|---|---|---|
(n = 69) | (n = 119) | (n = 188) | |
No (%) | No (%) | No (%) | |
Journal type | |||
Specialty | 59 (86) | 99 (83) | 158 (84) |
General | 10 (14) | 20 (17) | 30 (16) |
Location of corresponding author | |||
Asia | 26 (38) | 38 (32) | 64 (34) |
Europe | 22 (32) | 39 (33) | 61 (32) |
North-America | 18 (26) | 33 (28) | 51 (27) |
Other | 3 (4) | 9 (7) | 12 (7) |
Medical area | |||
Surgery | 21 (30) | 28 (24) | 49 (26) |
Cardiology | 8 (12) | 25 (21) | 33 (18) |
Oncology | 6 (9) | 19 (16) | 25 (13) |
Other | 34 (49) | 47 (39) | 81 (43) |
Type of intervention | |||
Pharmacological | 36 (52) | 56 (47) | 92 (49) |
Non-pharmacological | 32 (46) | 60 (50) | 92 (49) |
Surgical procedures | 30 (43) | 44 (37) | 74 (39) |
Other | 2 (3) | 16 (13) | 18 (10) |
Both pharmacological and non-pharmacological | 1 (1) | 3 (3) | 4 (2) |
Epidemiologists or statisticians involved | 17 (25) | 19 (16) | 36 (19) |
Declaration of conflict of interests | 64 (93) | 102 (86) | 166 (88) |
Potential conflict of interests | 9 (13) | 17 (14) | 26 (14) |
Funding source | |||
Public | 30 (43) | 36 (30) | 66 (35) |
No specific funding | 10 (14) | 29 (24) | 39 (21) |
Private | 2 (3) | 7 (6) | 9 (5) |
Both public and private | 3 (4) | 2 (2) | 5 (3) |
Not reported/unclear | 24 (35) | 45 (38) | 69 (37) |
Registration on PROSPERO | 0 | 3 (3) | 3 (2) |