| AMSTAR item | Number of reviews which met criteria (total 35) |
---|---|---|
1 | Was an a priori design provided? | 2 |
2 | Was there duplicate study selection and data extraction? | 20 |
3 | Was a comprehensive literature search performed? | 26 |
4 | Was the status of publication (that is, grey literature) used as an inclusion criterion? | 3 |
5 | Was a list of studies (included and excluded) provided? | 3 |
6 | Were the characteristics of the included studies provided? | 27 |
7 | Was the scientific quality of the included studies assessed and documented? | 22 |
8 | Was the scientific quality of the included studies used appropriately in formulating conclusions? | 10 |
9 | Were the methods used to combine the findings of studies appropriate? | 21 |
10 | Was the likelihood of publication bias assessed? | 2 |
11 | Was the conflict of interest included? | 0 |