Table 2 The GRADE evidence quality for each outcome
Quality assessment | No. of patients | Effect | Quality | Importance | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. of studies | Design | Risk of bias | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Other considerations | New comparison | Control | Relative (95% CI) | Absolute | ||
Bone healing index (better indicated by lower values) | ||||||||||||
 5 | Randomized trials | Serious | Serious | No serious indirectness | No serious imprecision | None | 89 | 84 | N/A | MD 8.75 lower (20.68 lower to 3.18 higher) | ⊕⊕OO Low | Critical |
Risk of complications | ||||||||||||
 5 | Randomized trials | Serious | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | No serious imprecision | None | 23/103 (22.3%) | 27/111 (24.3%) | RR 0.90 (0.65 to 1.24) | 24 fewer per 1000 (from 85 fewer to 58 more) | ⊕⊕⊕O Moderate | Critical |
Radiography gap fill area (better indicated by higher values) | ||||||||||||
 2 | Randomized trials | No serious risk of bias | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | Very serious | None | 9 | 8 | N/A | SMD 0.48 lower (1.49 lower to 0.52 higher) | ⊕⊕OO Low | Important |
Histology gap fill length (better indicated by higher values) | ||||||||||||
 2 | Randomized trials | No serious risk of bias | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | Very serious | None | 9 | 8 | N/A | SMD 0.76 lower (1.78 lower to 0.27 higher) | ⊕⊕OO Low | Important |
Bone density increase (better indicated by higher values) | ||||||||||||
 4 | Randomized trials | Serious | No serious inconsistency | No serious indirectness | Serious | None | 42 | 38 | N/A | SMD 0.43 higher (0.02 lower to 0.88 higher) | ⊕⊕OO Low | Important |