Table 1 Scale for quality assessment of molecular association studies
Criterion | Score |
|---|---|
Source of case | |
Selected from population | 2 |
Selected from hospital | 1 |
Not described | 0 |
Source of control | |
Population-based | 3 |
Blood donors or volunteers | 2 |
Hospital-based | 1 |
Not described | 0 |
Ascertainment of osteoporosis | |
WHO | 2 |
Diagnosis of osteoporosis by patient medical record | 1 |
Not described | 0 |
Ascertainment of control | |
Controls were tested to screen out | 2 |
Controls were subjects who did not report osteoporosis, no objective testing | 1 |
Not described | 0 |
Matching | |
Controls matched with cases by age and sex | 2 |
Controls matched with cases only by age or sex | 1 |
Not matched or not described | 0 |
Genotyping examination | |
Genotyping done blindly and quality control | 2 |
Only genotyping done blindly or quality control | 1 |
Unblinded and without quality control | 0 |
Specimens used for determining genotypes | |
Blood cells or normal tissues | 1 |
Tumor tissues or exfoliated cells of tissue | 0 |
HWE | |
HWE in the control group | 1 |
Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium in the control group | 0 |
Association assessment | |
Assess association between genotypes and osteoporosis with appropriate statistics and adjustment for confounders | 2 |
Assess association between genotypes and osteoporosis with appropriate statistics without adjustment for confounders | 1 |
Inappropriate statistics used | 0 |
Total sample size | |
> 500 | 3 |
200–500 | 2 |
< 200 | 1 |
HWE: Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium | |