Table 1 Characteristics of the included studies (N = 170)
Journal | N (%) |
|---|---|
 Annals of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery | 6 (3.5) |
 Asian Cardiovascular and Thoracic Annals | 9 (5.3) |
 Brazilian Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery | 8 (4.7) |
 European Journal of Cardio-thoracic Surgery | 28 (16) |
 Innovations: technology and techniques in cardiothoracic and vascular surgery | 2 (1.2) |
 Interactive CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery | 21 (12.4) |
 Journal of Cardiac Surgery | 1 (0.6) |
 Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery | 9 (5.3) |
 Perfusion | 15 (8.8) |
 Scandinavian Cardiovascular Journal | 8 (4.7) |
 Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery | 4 (2.4) |
 The Annals of Thoracic Surgery | 19 (11.2) |
 The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery | 28 (16.5) |
 The Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon | 12 (7.1) |
Authors | |
 Mean | 7.3 |
 Median | 7 |
 Range | 2–16 |
Funding | |
 Public | 28 (16) |
 Industry | 21 (12.4) |
 Private | 18 (10.6) |
 Mixed with industry | 7 (4.1) |
 Mixed without industry | 3 (1.8) |
 Not mentioned | 57 (33.5) |
 None | 34 (20) |
 Other | 2 (1.2) |
Hypothesis | |
 Superiority | 136 (80) |
 Equivalence | 16 (9.4) |
 Other | 14 (8.2) |
 Non-inferiority | 2 (1.2) |
 Not sure | 2 (1.2) |
Study type | |
 Parallel | 161 (94.7) |
 Factorial | 6 (3.5) |
 Other | 2 (1.2) |
 Crossover | 1 (0.6) |
 Stepped-wedge | 0 |
 Cluster | 0 |
 Mixed | 0 |
Intervention | |
 Drug | 57 (33.5) |
 Procedure | 52 (30.6) |
 Device | 25 (14.7) |
 Other | 23 (13.5) |
 Mixed | 13 (7.7) |
Blinding | |
 No-blind | 106 (62.4) |
 Double-blind | 37 (21.8) |
 Single-blind | 27 (15.9) |
Number of participants | |
 Mean | 132.4 |
 Median | 68 |
 Range | 14–2368 |
Country | |
 Outside of USA | 148 (87.1) |
 USA | 13 (7.6) |
 Both | 2 (1.2) |
 Not mentioned | 7 (4.1) |
No. of conducting centers | |
 Single-center | 147 (86.5) |
 Multicenter | 23 (13.5) |
Authors mention CONSORT | |
 No | 137 (80.6) |
 Yes | 33 (19.4) |
Authors mention TIDieR | |
 No | 170 (100) |
 Yes | 0 |
Is the trial registered? | |
 Not registered | 93 (55) |
 Registered | 77 (45) |