General characteristics | No. of ME studyb | % (95% CI) |
---|---|---|
Median publication year, range | 2013 | 1995–2020 |
Type of publication | ||
 Journal article | 76 | 95 (90 to 100) |
 Agency report | 4 | 5 (0 to 10) |
Journal articles | ||
 General journal | 26 | 32 (22 to 43) |
 Medical specialty journal | 50 | 62 (52 to 73) |
 Epidemiology/biostatistics | 26 | 32 (22 to 43) |
Involvement of epidemiologists/statisticiansc | 56/77 | 73 (63 to 83) |
Funding sourcesc | ||
 Public | 48/64 | 75 (64 to 86) |
 Private | 2/64 | 3 (0 to 8) |
 None | 14/64 | 22 (12 to 32) |
Type of interventionc | ||
 Pharmacological intervention | 5/62 | 8 (1 to 15) |
 Non-pharmacological intervention | 6/62 | 10 (2 to 17) |
 Both | 51/62 | 82 (72 to 92) |
Medical conditionsc | ||
 Various medical areas | 48/72 | 67 (56 to 78) |
 Diseases of the digestive system | 9/72 | 12 (5 to 20) |
 Pregnancy, childbirth or the puerperium | 5/72 | 7 (1 to 13) |
 Diseases of the musculoskeletal system or connective tissue | 5/72 | 7 (1 to 13) |
 Otherse | 5/72 | 7 (1 to 13) |
Top five trial-level characteristics evaluated | ||
 Allocation concealment | 30 | 38 (27 to 48) |
 Sequence generation | 24 | 30 (20 to 40) |
 Double blindingd | 19 | 24 (14 to 33) |
 Blinding of outcome assessors | 18 | 22 (13 to 32) |
 Blinding of participants | 13 | 16 (8 to 24) |
Type of outcome measuref | ||
 Binary | 60 | 75 (65 to 85) |
 Continuous | 37 | 46 (35 to 57) |
 Time-to-event | 5 | 6 (1 to 12) |
Type of study design for literature search | ||
 Collection of meta-analyses | 63 | 79 (70 to 88) |
 Collection of trials | 11 | 14 (6 to 22) |
 Combination of previously published ME studies | 6 | 8 (2 to 13) |
ME studies quantitatively synthesized a difference of treatment effect | 68 | 85 (77 to 93) |