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Table 1 Systematic review characteristics

From: A meta-epidemiological study of subgroup analyses in cochrane systematic reviews of atrial fibrillation

 

Total reviews

(N = 17)

Reviews with meta-analysis*: n (%)

16 (94.1%)

Pre-specified subgroups

 Reviews with pre-specified subgroupsa

13 (76.5%)

 Planned covariates for subgroup analysis: median (min, max)

3 (0, 6)

 Reviews with subgroup analyses conducted: n (%)b

7 (41.2%)

 Covariates used in subgroup analyses: median (min, max)

2 (1, 6)

 Reviews with subgroup effects**: n (%)c

3 (17.6%)

 Covariates in subgroup analyses: median (min, max)

2 (1, 3)

Post hoc subgroup analyses

 Reviews with post hoc subgroup analysesd

5 (29.4%)

 Reviews with post hoc subgroup effects: n (%) e

4 (23.5%)

 Covariates used in subgroup analyses: median (min, max)

1 (1, 5)

Any subgroup analyses performed, pre-specified, or Post Hoc

 Reviews with any subgroup analysesf

9 (52.9%)

 Covariates used in subgroup analyses: median (min, max)

2 (1, 11)

 Number with subgroup effects: n (%)

5 (29.4%)

No subgroup analyses performed

 Reviews with no subgroup analyses performedg

8 (47.1%)

Reasons for not conducting subgroup analyses: n (%)

 

  Insufficient data/studies

4 (23.5%)

  Not planned

4 (23.5%)

  1. *One review [39] did not conduct meta-analysis due to insufficient studies
  2. a[26, 29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40]
  3. b[29, 30, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39]
  4. c[35, 38, 39]
  5. d[24, 30, 31, 35, 38]
  6. e[30, 31, 35, 38]
  7. f[24, 29,30,31, 33, 35, 36, 38, 39]
  8. g[25,26,27,28, 32, 34, 37, 40]
  9. **Sub-group effects were characterized by p ≤ 0.05 for interaction terms, using Chi2 test for subgroup differences. This does not include 3 reviews which presented effects within a subgroup but did not test for interaction effects.