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1. Question or objective sufficiently described?

2. Design evident and appropriate to answer study question?

3. Method of subject selection (and comparison group selection, if applicable) or source of information/input variables (e.g., for decision analysis) is described and appropriate.

4. Subject (and comparison group, if applicable) characteristics or input variables/information (e.g., for decision analyses) sufficiently described?

5. If random allocation to treatment group was possible, is it described?

6. If interventional and blinding of investigators to intervention was possible, is it reported?

7. If interventional and blinding of subjects to intervention was possible, is it reported?

8. Outcome and (if applicable) exposure measure(s) well defined and robust to measurement / misclassification bias? Means of assessment reported?

9. Sample size appropriate?

10. Analysis described and appropriate?

11. Some estimate of variance (e.g., confidence intervals, standard errors) is reported for the main results/outcomes (i.e., those directly addressing the study question/objective upon which the conclusions are based)?

12. Controlled for confounding?

13. Results reported in sufficient detail?

14. Do the results support the conclusions?