Table 3 Rating of the studies with the Downs and Black Scale [10]
Authors | Study types | Score | Quality index |
|---|---|---|---|
Budgell and Hirano [31] | Rand. cross-over design | 16 | Moderate |
Cardoso-de-Mello-e-Mello-Ribeiro [18] | RCT | 18 | Moderate |
Chiu and Wright [27] | RCT | 11 | Limited |
Curi et al. [8] | RCT | 16 | Moderate |
Fornari [14] | Rand. pilot study | 18 | Moderate |
Fukada et al. [24] | Rand. cross-over design | 13 | Limited |
Gibbons et al. [32] | Rand. pilot study | 13 | Limited |
Giles et al. [29] | Rand. cross-over design | 13 | Limited |
Henderson et al. [7] | Rand. pilot study | 17 | Moderate |
Jowsey and Perry [28] | RCT | 18 | Moderate |
La Touche et al. [19] | RCT | 24 | Strong |
Milnes and Moran [16] | Pilot study | 12 | Limited |
Petersen et al. [26] | RCT | 13 | Limited |
Purdy et al. [30] | Rand. cross-over design | 14 | Moderate |
Roy et al. [20] | RCT | 19 | Moderate |
Ruffini et al. [13] | RCT | 23 | Strong |
Shi et al. [17] | Rand. cross-over design | 16 | Moderate |
Scoppa et al. [15] | Rand. pilot study | 10 | Limited |
Win et al. [21] | RCT | 21 | Strong |
Welch and Boone [6] | CCT | 10 | Limited |
Younes et al. [23] | RCT | 20 | Moderate |
Zhang et al. [27] | Clin. multi-centre study | 15 | Moderate |