A Review of the Risk Factors for Iron Deficiency Anaemia among Adolescents in Developing Countries

Table 2

Quality assessment of the studies using quality control checklist.

Study	Clear research question	Participant selection free from bias	Comparable study groups	Participant withdrawals or response rate described	Use of blinding	Description of intervention protocol and/or data collection procedures	Outcomes clearly defined	Appropriate statistical analysis	Conclusions supported by results	Unlikely funding bias	Overall quality rating
Fentie et al. [31]	+	+	N/A	+	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+
Fage et al. [32]	+	+	N/A	+	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+
Wiafe et al. [33]	+	+	N/A	+	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+
Gebreyesus et al. [34]	+	+	N/A	+	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+
Chalise et al. [35]	+	+	N/A	−	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+
Shaka and Wondimagegne [36]	+	+	N/A	+	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+
Ahankari et al. [37]	+	+	N/A	+	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+
Regasa and Haidar [38]	+	+	N/A	+	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+
Agrawal et al. [39]	+	+	N/A	+	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+
Thomas et al. [40]	+	−	N/A	+	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+
Nelima [41]	+	+	N/A	−	N/A	+	+	+	+	NR	+
Ramzi et al. [42]	+	+	N/A	−	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+
Kaur et al. [43]	+	+	N/A	+	N/A	+	+	+	+	NR	+
Leenstra et al. [44]	+	+	N/A	+	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+
El Sahn et al. [45]	+	+	N/A	+	N/A	+	+	+	+	+	+

N/A, not applicable (due to cross-sectional design of study); NR, not reported. +, positive overall score: this overall score is given if criteria 2, 3, 6, and 7 of the QCC and one additional criterion have received a positive score. Ø, neutral overall score: this score is given if more criteria are met than for a negative overall score, but an overall positive score is not reached. −, negative overall score: this score is given if six or more QCC criteria are not met.