Table 3 Overall methodological quality of the 106 systematic reviews on acupuncture by bibliographical characteristics
From: Low methodological quality of systematic reviews on acupuncture: a cross-sectional study
Bibliographical characteristics | Critically low^ | Low^ | Moderate^ | High^ | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total included SRs | 99 (93.4) | 6 (5.7) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.9) | Â |
Cochrane Review | < 0.001* | ||||
 Yes | 0 (0.0) | 4 (80.0) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (20.0) |  |
 No | 99 (98.0) | 2 (2.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0) |  |
An update of a previous review | 0.007* | ||||
 Yes (Cochrane review) | 3 (100) | 0 (0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 Yes (non-Cochrane review) | 12 (75.0) | 3 (18.8) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (6.3) |  |
 No | 84 (96.6) | 3 (3.4) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
Reported intervention harms | 0.659 | ||||
 Yes | 70 (92.1) | 5 (6.6) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.3) |  |
 No | 29 (96.7) | 1 (3.3) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
Funding location of the SR | 0.859 | ||||
 Europe | 4 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 America | 4 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 Asia | 61 (92.4) | 4 (6.1) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.5) |  |
 Not reported | 7 (87.5) | 1 (12.5) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 No funding support | 23 (95.8) | 1 (4.2) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
SRs that searched non-English databases | 0.048* | ||||
 Yes | 82 (93.2) | 6 (6.8) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 No | 17 (94.4) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (5.6) |  |
Report year of coverage of literature search | 0.323 | ||||
 Yes | 74 (91.4) | 6 (7.4) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.2) |  |
 Partially | 19 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 Not mentioned | 6 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
Search terms reported for one or more electronic databases | 0.287 | ||||
 Topics/free text/keywords/MeSH | 47 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 Full Boolean | 48 (88.9) | 5 (9.3) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.9) |  |
 Readers are referred elsewhere for full search strategy | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 No research term | 4 (80.0) | 1 (20.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
Eligibility criteria based on language of publication | 0.467 | ||||
 English only | 9 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 Language other than English | 5 (83.3) | 1 (16.7) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 English and other languages | 28 (87.5) | 3 (9.4) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (3.1) |  |
 Not reported | 57 (96.6) | 2 (3.4) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
Risk-of-bias assessment tools | 0.769 | ||||
 Cochrane risk of bias | 92 (92.9) | 6 (6.1) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.0) |  |
 Jadad scale | 2 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 Pedro Scale | 2 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 Others | 1 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
 Not mentioned | 2 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |
Included a PRISMA-like flow diagram | 0.865 | ||||
 Yes | 95 (93.1) | 6 (5.9) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.0) |  |
 No | 4 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |  |