1 - Is the Hypothesis/aim/objective clearly described?

2 - Are the main outcomes to be measured clearly described in the Introduction or Methods section?

3 - Are the characteristics of the participants included in the study clearly described?

4 - Are the interventions of interest clearly described?

6 - Are the main findings of the study clearly described?

10 - Have actual probability values been reported (e.g. 0,035 rather than <0,05) for the main outcomes except where the probability value is less than 0.001?

11 - Were the subjects asked to participate in the study representative of the entire population from which they were recruited?

12 - Were those subjects who were prepared to participate representative of the entire population from which they were recruited?

13 - Were the staff, place, and facilities where the patients were treated, representative of the treatment the majority of patients receive?

18 - Were the statistical tests used to assess the main outcomes appropriate?

19 - Was the compliance with the interventions reliable?

20 - Were the main outcome measures used accurate (valid and reliable)?

21 - Were the patients in different intervention groups (trials and cohort studies) or were the cases and controls (case-control studies) recruited from the same population?

22 - Were the study subjects in different intervention groups (trials and cohort studies) or were the cases and controls (case-control studies) recruited over the same period of time?

23 - Were study subjects randomized to intervention groups?

24 - Was the randomized intervention assignment concealed from both patient and health care staff until was complete and irrevocable?