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Table 2 Risk of bias of included RCTs*

From: Complementary and alternative medicine for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: A systematic review

Study Random sequence generation Allocation concealment Patient blinding Assessor blinding Reporting drop-out or withdrawal† Intention-to-treat analysis† Selective outcome reporting Other potential bias
Clollinge (1998) [10] Low Low High Low Low High High Unclear
Dybwad (2007) [11] Low Low High Low Low Unclear Low Low
Surawy (2005) [12] Unclear Unclear High Unclear High Unclear Unclear Unclear
Walach (2008) [13] Low Low Low Low Low High Low Low
Field (1997) [14] Low Unclear High High Unclear Unclear Unclear High
Wang (2009) [15] Unclear Unclear Low Low High Unclear Low Unclear
Liu (2010) [16] Unclear Unclear High Unclear Unclear Unclear Unclear Unclear
Weatherley-Jones (2004) [17] Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low
Awdry (1996) [18] Unclear Unclear Low Low High High Low Unclear
Hartz (2004) [19] Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low
Forsyth (1999) [20] Unclear Unclear Low Unclear Unclear High Unclear Unclear
Santaella (2004) [21] Unclear Unclear High High High High Low Unclear
Brouwers (2002) [22] Unclear High Low Low Low Low Unclear Low
De Becker (2001) [23] Unclear Low Low Unclear Unclear Unclear Unclear Low
The (2007) [24] Low Low Low Low Low Low Unclear Low
McDertmott (2006) [25] Low Low Low Low Low High Low Low
Stewart (1987) [26] Unclear Unclear High High Low High High Unclear
Rothschild (2002) [27] Unclear Unclear Low Low High High Unclear Unclear
Vermeulen (2004) [28] Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low
Behan (1990) [29] Low Low High High Low Unclear High Unclear
Warren (1999) [30] Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Unclear
Kaslow (1989) [31] Unclear Low Low Low Low Unclear Unclear Low
Ockerman (2000) [32] Unclear Low Low Low Low Unclear Unclear Low
Cox (1991) [33] Unclear Unclear Low Low Unclear High Low Unclear
Tiev (1999) [34] Unclear Unclear Unclear Unclear Low Unclear Unclear Unclear
Willams (2002) [35] Unclear Unclear Unclear Unclear Low Unclear Unclear Unclear
  1. *, Domains of quality assessment based on Cochrane tools for assessing risk of bias.
  2. †, Two domains referring to 'incomplete outcome data' in the Cochrane tools for assessing risk of bias.
  3. ‡, This study had a baseline imbalance in the subjective outcome values.
  4. Abbreviations; Low (low risk of bias);/High (high risk of bias); Unclear (uncertain risk of bias).
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