The R-AMSTAR scores of methodological quality of systematic reviews ranged from 19 37 out of 44 (Table 3).
> -wrap-foot> Scores for methodological quality of studies, where the maximum score was 11, ranged from nine to 11, indicating a high level of methodological quality in all included studies.
Three independent reviewers allocated a score of methodological quality.
The assessment of methodological quality is described in Table 1.
We organised a 12-member expert panel, intentionally encompassing a diverse range of methodological perspectives representing both quality improvement and research expertise.
The total scores (within a range of 0 9 points) of the methodological quality ranged from 3.9 to 7.3.
Researchers have wrestled with a range of methodological issues, including research designs, selection bias, quality measurement, and the problems of evaluating outcomes.
The low quality score of the studies included in this meta analysis occurred as a result of a wide range of methodological weaknesses.
Heterogeneity in prevalence was somewhat lower in studies of higher methodological quality (range 23.9 to 54.4 %) compared to the studies of lower quality (20.3 to 88%%) (Fig. 7).
The results of the methodological quality assessment of the included studies showed a range of achieved scores from 61% to 99% with a mean and standard deviation of 71% ± 9% (Table 3), indicating appropriate methodological qualities for most studies.
