Data analysis
Characteristics of the design of the RCTs were summarized according to
the number trial registers documenting clinical or surrogate outcomes
and describing data ascertainment methods to detect adverse events.
Simple proportions were reported for dichotomous outcomes. For
continuous data, means and standard deviations (SD) or medians and
interquartile ranges (IQR) were reported, as appropriate. Comparisons
between continuous variables were made using t-test and reporting the
mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).