| Score | |
| 1 | Intervention should be abandoned. Several randomised trials have consistently showed that the intervention has no beneficial effects or is harmful (n = 7 (4%)) |
| 2 | Intervention should probably be abandoned. Few relatively small randomised trials found that intervention was without beneficial effects or may be harmful (n = 23 (13%)) |
| 3 | Insufficient evidence to support or refute the intervention. No or weak evidence to evaluate whether the intervention may be promising or disappointing. Two interventions compared with no significant difference (n = 52 (30%)) |
| 4 | Insufficient evidence to support or refute the intervention. Few randomised trials found that intervention may have beneficial effects in subgroups or beneficial effects on surrogate outcomes with questionable clinical relevance (n = 38 (22%)) |
| 5 | Reasonable evidence to use the intervention, but further evidence was needed for various reasons, eg, methodological considerations or substantial heterogeneity (n = 31 (18%)) |
| 6 | Clear evidence that the intervention should be used (n = 22 (13%)) |