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Table 4 Risk of bias in the included studies

From: Osteopathic manipulative treatment for nonspecific low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis

  Randomisation? Allocation concealed? Patient blinding? Care provider blinding?1 Outcome assessor blinding?2 Drop-outs described + acceptable? Free of selective outcome report? Groups similar at baseline? Co-intervention avoided or similar? Compliance acceptable? Intention-to-treat analysis? Similar timing outcome assessment?
Study 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Adorjàn-Schaumann 1999 LR LR UC HR UC LR LR LR LR HR LR LR
Andersson 1999 LR LR HR HR HR LR LR LR LR LR HR LR
Chown 2008 LR LR UC HR UC LR 3 LR LR LR LR UC LR
Cruser 2012 LR LR HR HR HR LR LR LR LR LR LR LR
Gibson 1985 UC UC HR HR HR LR LR HR LR LR UC LR
Gundermann 2013 LR LR HR HR HR LR LR LR LR LR LR HR
Heinze 2006 LR LR HR HR HR LR LR HR LR LR LR LR
Licciardone 2003 LR LR UC HR UC UC HR LR LR UC UC LR
Licciardone 2009 LR UC HR HR HR HR LR LR LR LR LR LR
Licciardone 2013 LR LR UC HR UC LR HR LR LR LR LR LR
Mandara 2008 LR LR UC HR UC LR LR UC LR LR HR LR
Recknagel 2007 LR LR HR HR HR LR LR HR LR LR LR LR
Peters 2006 LR LR HR HR HR LR LR LR LR LR HR LR
Schwerla 2012 LR LR HR HR HR LR LR HR LR LR LR LR
Vismara 2012 LR LR HR HR HR LR LR LR LR LR HR LR
  1. 1In manual therapy studies, blinding is not possible.
  2. 2For patient-reported outcomes, a low risk of bias is only possible if there is a low risk of bias for participant blinding.
  3. 3Comparison between osteopathic manipulative treatment and physiotherapy group is low risk, but comparison between osteopathic manipulative treatment and exercise group is high risk (due to high dropout rate). This comparison was therefore excluded from the review.
  4. Abbreviations: HR High risk of bias, LR Low risk of bias, UC Unclear.
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BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

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