OBJECTIVES This paper aims to assess the methodological quality of economic evaluations included in Belgian reimbursement applications for Class 1 drugs. MATERIALS AND METHODS For 19 reimbursement applications submitted during 2011 and Spring 2012, a descriptive analysis assessed the methodological quality of the economic evaluation, evaluated the assessment of that economic evaluation by the...

OBJECTIVE To perform a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the efficacy of therapeutic exercises for workers suffering from rotator cuff (RC) tendinopathy. METHODS A literature search in four bibliographical databases (Pubmed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and PEDro) was conducted from inception up to February 2015. RCTs were included if participants were workers suffering from RC t...

Conventional treatment for primary dysmenorrhoea has a failure rate of 20% to 25% and may be contraindicated or not tolerated by some women. Herbal medicine may be a suitable alternative. The objective of the manuscript, is determine the efficacy and safety of some Iranian herbal medicine for primary dysmenorrhea when compared with placebo, no treatment, and other treatment. For this target ele...

OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of the 2004 extension of the CONSORT guidelines on the reporting and methodological quality of cluster randomised trials. DESIGN Methodological review of 300 randomly sampled cluster randomised trials. Two reviewers independently abstracted 14 criteria related to quality of reporting and four methodological criteria specific to cluster randomised trials. We comp...

BACKGROUND Probiotics are widely used for the induction and maintenance of remission in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and pouchitis. There are a large number of meta-analyses (MAs)/ systematic reviews (SRs) on this subject, the methodological quality of which has not been evaluated. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to evaluate the methodological quality of and summarize the evidence obtained fr...

s were screened to identify potentially relevant articles. After retrieving the full text, an article was considered relevant if it met the following criteria: randomized controlled trial of supplemental vitamin D or associated metabolite, with or without calcium, with a placebo or standard treatment arm; study did not include an exercise intervention; study population consisted of older adults...

INTRODUCTION With efforts to combat opioid use disorder, there is an increased interest in clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for opioid use disorder treatments. No literature exists examining the quality of systematic reviews used in opioid use disorder CPGs. This study aims to describe the methodological quality and reporting clarity of systematic reviews (SRs) used to create CPGs for opioid...

BACKGROUND We aimed to describe the approaches and characteristics of systematic reviews on three major complementary therapies and to assess their methodological quality. METHODS Systematic reviews of clinical trials of acupuncture, herbal medicines, and homeopathy were identified from a database developed for the Cochrane Collaboration Complementary Medicine Field. Information on conditions...

BACKGROUND Systematic reviews are pivotal components in the development of evidence-based clinical guidelines. To evaluate the methodological quality of these systematic reviews, several tools have been proposed. Among them, the assessment of multiple systematic reviews (AMSTAR) checklist is probably used most frequently. This tool comprises 11 items related to the steps taken when conducting a...