Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials

Please report these in accordance with the QUOROM (Quality of Reporting of Meta-analyses) statement (Moher D, Cook DJ, Eastwood S, Olkin I, Rennie D, Stroup DF, for the QUOROM Group. Improving the quality of reports of meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials: the QUOROM statement. Lancet 1999; 354:1896-1900)

Please provide the following, as described in the QUOROM statement:

• Nine subheaded sections in the main text of the paper
• A flow chart (fig 1) showing the progress of trials through the review
• A checklist for editors and reviewers (not for publication) showing that you have described 21 key points in your report

We may choose not to use all of the subheadings in the published version of the paper for reasons of readability.

The structured abstract should have these sections: objectives, data sources, review methods, results, and conclusions.