Table 1 Characteristics of the included studies
From: How is AMSTAR applied by authors – a call for better reporting
Study type (n = 247) | ||
Overview | 154 | 62% |
Methodological | 84 | 34% |
Discordance | 8 | 3% |
Psychometric | 1 | 0% |
Study designs included in SRs (n = 247) | ||
Only RCTs | 39 | 16% |
Not only RCTs | 142 | 57% |
Not reported | 66 | 27% |
AMSTAR assessment (n = 247) | ||
Independently | 163 | 66% |
Verification | 9 | 4% |
Duplicate on sample | 2 | 1% |
Single | 1 | 0% |
Not reported | 72 | 29% |
Number of reviewers in total (n = 247) | ||
2 | 86 | 35% |
> 2 | 12 | 5% |
Not reported | 149 | 60% |
Number of reviewers per included review (n = 247) | ||
1 | 3 | 1% |
2 | 180 | 73% |
5 | 1 | 0% |
Not reported | 63 | 26% |
IRR reported (n = 247) | ||
Yes | 58 | 23% |
No | 189 | 77% |
AMSTAR version (n = 247) | ||
Original | 25 | 10% |
Modified [18] | 9 | 4% |
Not reported | 213 | 86% |
AMSTAR modifications (n = 247) | ||
Yes | 57 | 23% |
No | 190 | 77% |
Rationale for AMSTAR (n = 246) | ||
Yes | 23 | 9% |
No | 223 | 91% |
AMSTAR score (n = 247) | ||
Yes | 200 | 81% |
No | 47 | 19% |
Calculating AMSTAR score (n = 200) | ||
Yes = 1 | 102 | 51% |
Yes = 1 with modifications | 8 | 4% |
Percentage | 17 | 9% |
Other | 2 | 1% |
Not reported | 71 | 36% |
AMSTAR score as inclusion criterion (n = 200) | ||
Yes | 22 | 11% |
No | 178 | 89% |
Categorization (n = 247) | ||
Yes | 132 | 53% |
No | 115 | 47% |
limitations with respect to study designs mentioned (n = 142) | ||
Yes | 14 | 10% |
No | 128 | 90% |
limitations with respect to overall score mentioned (n = 200) | ||
Yes | 18 | 9% |
No | 182 | 91% |