General characteristics of the 319 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) identified and their focus
| All | CHD | Hypertension | Heart failure | Stroke/TIA | Atrial fibrillation | Diabetes | COPD | Chronic pain | Depression | Dementia | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | n=319 | n=36 | n=38 | n=36 | n=22 | n=25 | n=109 | n=34 | n=12 | n=40 | n=7 |
| Type of intervention | |||||||||||
| Pharmacological | 147 (46.1) | 11 (30.6) | 21 (55.3) | 11 (30.6) | 4 (18.2) | 9 (36.0) | 62 (56.9) | 24 (70.6) | 3 (25.0) | 13 (32.5) | 4 (57.1) |
| Behavioural | 57 (17.9) | 2 (5.6) | 4 (10.5) | 6 (16.7) | 8 (36.4) | 1 (4.0) | 21 (19.3) | 1 (2.9) | 4 (33.3) | 15 (37.5) | 1 (14.3) |
| Device | 30 (9.4) | 7 (19.4) | 1 (2.6) | 8 (22.2) | 3 (13.6) | 3 (12.0) | 5 (4.6) | 1 (2.9) | 3 (25.0) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| Procedure | 18 (5.6) | 9 (25.0) | 1 (2.6) | 3 (8.3) | 1 (4.5) | 8 (32.0) | 2 (1.8) | 1 (2.9) | 1 (8.3) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| Other | 40 (12.5) | 4 (11.1) | 5 (13.2) | 5 (13.9) | 5 (22.7) | 1 (4.0) | 10 (9.2) | 6 (17.6) | 0 (0.0) | 8 (20.0) | 2 (28.6) |
| Mixed | 27 (8.5) | 3 (8.3) | 6 (15.8) | 3 (8.3) | 1 (4.5) | 3 (12.0) | 9 (8.3) | 1 (2.9) | 1 (8.3) | 4 (10.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| Funding sources | |||||||||||
| Industry profit | 107 (34) | 6 (17) | 14 (37) | 13 (36) | 7 (32) | 5 (20) | 45 (41) | 16 (47) | 3 (25) | 10 (25) | 2 (29) |
| Non-profit | 212 (66) | 30 (83) | 24 (63) | 23 (64) | 15 (68) | 20 (80) | 64 (59) | 18 (53) | 9 (75) | 30 (75) | 5 (71) |
| No. of arms | |||||||||||
| 2 | 249 (78) | 32 (89) | 29 (76) | 32 (89) | 15 (68) | 24 (96) | 83 (76) | 25 (74) | 8 (67) | 32 (80) | 5 (71) |
| 3 | 57 (18) | 4 (11) | 6 (16) | 3 (8) | 5 (23) | 1 (4) | 24 (22) | 8 (23) | 3 (25) | 6 (15) | 0 (0) |
| ≥4 | 13 (4) | 0 (0) | 3 (8) | 1 (3) | 2 (9) | 0 (0) | 2 (2) | 1 (3) | 1 (8) | 2 (5) | 2 (29) |
| Targeted sample size | |||||||||||
| Median (Q1–Q3) | 242 (150–483) | 300 (143–559) | 212 (150–351) | 220 (173–442) | 200 (122–540) | 200 (132–420) | 280 (160–480) | 330 (158–983) | 120 (106–296) | 250 (155–375) | 200 (190–527) |
| Type of outcome | |||||||||||
| Patient-important | 199 (62) | 22 (61) | 11 (29) | 29 (81) | 20 (91) | 19 (76) | 40 (37) | 28 (82) | 11 (92) | 39 (98) | 7 (100) |
| Surrogate | 102 (32) | 12 (33) | 25 (66) | 7 (19) | 2 (9) | 3 (12) | 60 (55) | 5 (15) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Laboratory/physiological | 18 (6) | 2 (6) | 2 (5) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 3 (12) | 9 (8) | 1 (3) | 1 (8) | 1 (2) | 0 (0) |