Hand-searching | Articles retrieved by specific search strategy for PubMed3 8 | Articles retrieved by sensitive search strategy for PubMed3 8 | |
Study designs* | N (%) | N (%) | N (%) |
A1 RCT | 1 (4) | 1 (9) | 1 (6) |
A2 CT | 3 (11) | 1 (9) | 3 (17) |
A3 time-series | 1 (4) | 1 (9) | 1 (6) |
A4 before-after | 22 (81) | 8 (73) | 13 (72) |
Total number of studies* | 27 | 11 | 18 |
Total number of articles | 25 | 9 | 16 |
↵* Total number of studies is 27 since two articles reported results from two different study designs.
CT, controlled trial; RCT, randomised controlled trial.