Table 3

Assessment of the Rigor of Observational Studies (n = 40)

Author(s), Year	Study Design	Study Design Includes Pre- and Post-Intervention Data	Study Design Includes Control or Comparison Group	Study Design Includes Cohort	Comparison Groups Equivalent at Baseline on Sociodemographics	Comparison Groups Equivalent at Baseline on Outcome Measures	Random Assignment (Group or Individual) to the Intervention	Participants Randomly Selected for Assessment	Control for Potential Confounders	Follow-up Rate^a	Total Rigor Score^b
Alverson et al,⁸⁶ 1995	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	Not reported	Yes	3
Becker et al,⁸⁷ 2007	Retrospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	Not reported	n/a	2
Becker et al,⁸⁸ 2001	Prospective cohort	No	Yes	No	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported	1
Becker et al,¹¹ 1999	Retrospective cohort (secondary analysis)	No	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	n/a	1
Bowie et al,⁸⁹ 2017	Prospective cohort	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	7
Burt,²³ 2012	Prospective cohort	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Not reported	6
Chang et al,⁹⁰ 2016	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Not reported	Yes	3
Chiu and Wong,⁹¹ 2001	Retrospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	Not reported	Not reported	2
Chuang et al,⁹² 2015	Retrospective cohort	No	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	n/a	1
Dresser et al,⁹³ 2015	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Not reported	Yes	3
Ellison et al,⁹⁴ 2015	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	Not reported	Not reported	n/a	No	No	Yes	3
Fuller et al,⁹⁵ 2000	Retrospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	No	n/a	n/a	No	n/a	2
Kielhofner et al,⁹⁶ 2004	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	Yes	No	3
Landolt et al,⁹⁷ 2016	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Not reported	Not reported	2
Leff et al,⁹⁸ 2005	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Yes	Not reported	3
LePage et al,⁹⁹ 2011	Prospective cohort	Not reported	Yes	Yes	Not reported	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Not reported	5
LePage et al,¹⁰⁰ 2013	Prospective cohort	Not reported	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Not reported	5
Lucca et al,¹⁰¹ 2004	Retrospective cohort	Not reported	No	Yes	Not reported	No	No	No	Yes	Not reported	2
Marwaha et al,¹⁰² 2014	Prospective cohort	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Not reported	3
McCarthy et al,¹⁰³ 1998	Prospective cohort	No	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	No	Unknown	1
Morris et al,¹⁰⁴ 2014	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	No	2
Ottomanelli et al,¹⁰⁵ 2017	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	n/a	Yes	3
Ottomanelli et al,¹⁰⁶ 2015	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Not reported	Not reported	2
Pandiani et al,¹⁰⁷ 2004	Retrospective cohort (secondary analysis)	Not reported	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a	n/a	No	Yes	n/a	4
Porteous and Waghorn,¹⁰⁸ 2007	Prospective cohort	No	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported	1
Puig et al,¹⁰⁹ 2016	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	Yes	n/a	3
Reddy et al,¹¹⁰ 2016	Prospective cohort	No	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	Yes	No	2
Roush,¹¹¹ 2009	Retrospective cohort (secondary analysis)	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Yes	n/a	3
Rüsch et al,¹¹² 2014	Retrospective cohort	No	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	No	No	Yes	Yes	3
Sato et al,¹¹³ 2014	Prospective controlled	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	6
Tan et al,¹¹⁴ 2016	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	2
Van Veggel et al,¹¹⁵ 2015	Prospective cohort/parallel design	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	5
Waghorn et al,¹¹⁶ 2015	Prospective cohort/parallel design	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	3
Watzke et al,¹¹⁷ 2009	Prospective cohort	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Not reported	Yes	Yes	7
Waynor and Gill,¹¹⁸ 2015	Prospective cohort	Yes	n/a	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	No	2
Williams et al,¹¹⁹ 2015	Prospective cohort	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	4
Wittich et al,¹²⁰ 2013	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	Yes	3
Wong et al,¹²¹ 2000	Prospective cohort	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	Yes	Not reported	5
Wong et al,¹²² 2001	Prospective cohort	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	n/a	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported	5
Zanis and Coviello,¹²³ 2001	Prospective cohort	Yes	No	Yes	n/a	n/a	n/a	No	Not reported	Yes	3

n/a = not applicable.
↵a Rate of at least 80% counts toward total score.
↵b Minimum score = 1; maximum score = 9.