Table 2 Study characteristics – quality assessment
From: Drug-resistant enteric fever worldwide, 1990 to 2018: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Study quality characteristics | Number of studies (%) |
|---|---|
Study designa | |
 Clinical trial | 16 (4.0) |
 Prospective | 155 (38.7) |
 Retrospective | 230 (57.4) |
Sample size | |
 10-29 | 63 (16.4) |
 30-99 | 137 (35.7) |
 >100 | 184 (47.9) |
Method of antimicrobial susceptibility testing | |
 Disk-diffusion | 183 (47.7) |
 Disk-diffusion & MIC determination | 98 (25.5) |
 Microdilution | 26 (6.8) |
 E-test | 9 (2.3) |
 Automated methodsb | 7 (1.8) |
 Multiple MIC determination methods | 6 (1.6) |
 Not stated | 55 (14.3) |
Guidelines for antimicrobial susceptibility testingc | |
 BSAC/EUCAST | 11 (2.8) |
 CLSI/NCCLS | 200 (51.4) |
 Other | 12 (3.1) |
 Not stated | 166 (42.7) |
Version of antimicrobial susceptibility testing guidelines stated | |
 Stated | 168 (43.8) |
 Not stated | 216 (56.3) |
Internal quality control reported | |
 Yes | 122 (31.8) |
 No | 262 (68.2) |
External quality assessment (EQA) participation reported | |
 International EQA | 5 (1.3) |
 National EQA | 2 (0.5) |
 Results confirmed by national or international surveillance laboratory | 23 (6) |
 Not stated | 354 (92.2) |