All patients who gave consent (or had their guardians' consent in the case of minors) to participate in the study were allocated to group A or B with the aid of a continuously updated register.
The patients selected for the study were allocated to one of two cohorts.
Participants in the study were allocated unique ID number for identification.
Subjects eligible for inclusion in the study were allocated a study number in the order in which they were enrolled.
Patients enrolled in the study were allocated to the Rocker or the X-Stop group randomly by closed envelopes.
All the residents of general practice who accepted to participate in the study were allocated to the intervention group [Intervention Group II] due to the limited number of candidates.
Accordingly, the studies were allocated based on their design to one of two groups, i.e. bRCTs, nbRCTs and NRCTs (first group) and UCTs and case series (second group).
Those first to agree to participate in this study were allocated to the intervention group until half the estimated available workers (n = 131) had been allocated.
The case-control study was allocated four out of a possible nine stars (Supplementary Table 4).
Women who classified themselves as "housewives" in the Renfrew/Paisley Study were allocated the social classes of their husbands.
