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Table 5 Study characteristics in cohort studies of high quality (7 or 8 on the scale) reporting and not reporting THE

From: Reporting of heterogeneity of treatment effect in cohort studies: a review of the literature

Study characteristics

All studies

(n = 57)

Studies addressing

HTE (n = 31)

Studies not addressing

HTE (n = 26)

p-value*

Sample size, Med(Q1-Q3)

2438(415–19,486)

7484(1259–70,336)

470(166–2453)

<0.001

Length of follow up (years), Med(Q1-Q3)

3(1–7)

5(2.2–11.8)

1(0.1–4)

0.002

Date of publication

   

0.2

 2000–2013

28(49)

18(58)

10(38.5)

 

 2014–2016

29(51)

13(42)

16(61.5)

 

Journal type, n(%)

   

<0.001

 High impact factor journals (HIJ)

28(49)

22(71)

6(23)

 

 Low impact factor journals (LIJ)

29(51)

9(29)

20(77)

 

Source of funding, n(%)

   

0.68

 Industry

36(63)

23(74)

13(19)

 

 Other

10(17)

5(16)

5(50)

 

 NA

11(20)

3(10)

8(31)

 

Study area, n(%)

   

0.02

 Medical

34(60)

23(74)

11(42)

 

 Non medical

23(40)

8(26)

15(58)

 

Type of primary outcome, n(%)

   

0.05

 Time to event

26(46)

18(58)

8(31)

 

 Binary

16(28)

5(16)

11(42)

 

 Continuous

15(26)

8(26)

7(27)

 

Main effect of primary outcome, n(%)

   

1

 Statistically significant

36(63)

20(65)

16(62)

 

 Not statistically significant

21(37)

11(35)

10(38)

 

Analysis of predictive factors on side effects, n(%)

0(0)

0(0)

 

Prespecification of HTE analysis, n(%)

30(53)

30(97)

 

Type of HTE analysis, n(%)

    

 Subgroup

1(2)

1(3)

 

 Adjusted

23(40)

23(74)

 

 Propension

7(12)

7(23)

 

Predictive variables studied, n(%)

 Age

13(23)

18(58)

 

 Sexe

7(12)

7(23)

 

 Social level

2(3)

2(6)

 

 Genetics

3(5)

3(10)

 

 Treatment

27(47)

27(87)

 

 Comorbidities

8(14)

8(26)

 

 Severity of disease

6(11)

6(19)

 

Prognostic variables studied, n(%)

20(35)

10(32)

10()

0.78

Analysis of prognostic factors on side effect, n(%)

0(0)

0(0)

0(0)

Interaction test, n(%)

6(10)

6(19)

0(0)

  1. *to determinate p-value we used the Wilcoxon rank sum test for the analysis of continuous data and the chi square/fisher test for binary data