Comparison of suprapatellar and infrapatellar intramedullary nailing for tibial shaft fractures: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Table 2 The GRADE evidence quality

Quality assessment						No. of patients		Effect	Quality	Importance
No. of studies	Design	Limitations	Inconsistency	Indirectness	Imprecision	IP groups	SP groups	Effect	Quality	Importance
Total blood loss
4	RCT	Serious limitations	No serious inconsistency	No serious indirectness	No serious imprecision	142	151	WMD = 7.92, 95% CI 1.15 to 14.68	High	Critical
VAS scores
4	RCT	Serious limitations	No serious inconsistency	No serious indirectness	No serious imprecision	142	151	WMD = 0.70, 95% CI 0.570 to 0.83	High	Critical
Range of motion
3	RCT	Serious limitations	No serious inconsistency	No serious indirectness	No serious imprecision	112	113	WMD = − 1.28, 95% CI − 3.16 to 0.59	High	Critical
Lysholm knee scores
3	RCT	Serious limitations	No serious inconsistency	No serious indirectness	No serious imprecision	112	113	WMD = − 5.58, 95% CI − 7.33 to − 3.83	High	Critical
Fluoroscopy times
2	RCT	Serious limitations	Serious inconsistency	No serious indirectness	No serious imprecision	111	119	WMD = 26.70, 95% CI 3.15 to 50.25	Moderate	Critical
Length of hospital stay
3	RCT	Serious limitations	No serious inconsistency	No serious indirectness	No serious imprecision	125	130	WMD = − 0.05, 95% CI − 0.33 to 0.23	High	Critical
Postoperative complications
3	RCT	Serious limitations	No serious inconsistency	No serious indirectness	No serious imprecision	125	130	RD = 0.01, 95% CI − 0.03 to 0.04	High	Critical

ISSN: 1749-799X