Table 3.
Details of interventions and outcomes examined in meta-analyses and trials. Values are numbers (percentages) unless stated otherwise
| Characteristics | Meta-analyses (n=146) | Clinical trials (n=1346) |
|---|---|---|
| Median No of trials (range) | 7 (3-67) | — |
| Median No of participants (range) | 1315 (117-44102) | 104 (2-17187) |
| Median year of publication (range) | 1998 (1990-2000) | 1987 (1962-1998) |
| Interventions* | ||
| Drug | 89 (61) | 919 (68) |
| Rehabilitation or psychosocial | 8 (6) | 61 (5) |
| Prevention or screening | 22 (15) | 161 (12) |
| Surgery or radiotherapy | 5 (3) | 36 (3) |
| Communication, organisational, or educational | 2 (1) | 28 (2) |
| Alternative medicine intervention | 2 (1) | 18 (1) |
| Other† | 18 (12) | 123 (9) |
| Outcomes | ||
| Objective outcomes: | ||
| All cause mortality | 27 (18) | 295 (22) |
| Laboratory measurement | 17 (12) | 144 (11) |
| Surgical/instrumental‡ | 16 (11) | 159 (12) |
| Other§ | 18 (12) | 120 (9) |
| Subjective outcomes: | ||
| Patient reported outcome | 16 (11) | 207 (15) |
| Physician assessed disease outcome | 42 (29) | 323 (24) |
| Combined outcome | 1 (0.7) | 11 (1) |
| Withdrawals or dropouts | 9 (6) | 87 (6) |
*Classification of interventions based on Moja et al.11
†Amnioinfusion, amniotomy, holding chambers for β agonist treatment, Doppler ultrasound, electroconvulsive therapy, external cephalic version, enteral nutrition in preterm infants, nasal continuous positive airways pressure in low birthweight infants, timing of induction, suture material, nerve stimulation for low back pain, positioning of umbilical artery catheters, heparinisation of umbilical artery catheters, electronic heart rate monitoring, electronic fetal monitoring plus scalp sampling, birth chair during second stage of labour.
‡Caesarean section (12), instrumental delivery (2), epidural analgesia (1), manual removal of placenta (1).
§Based on birth weight (5), timing of delivery (3), haemorrhage or blood loss measurement (2), non-cephalic birth (2), continuing lactation one week after birth (1), deep venous thrombosis (1), live birth (1), failed delivery (1), episiotomy (1), retention in school grade (1).