Is End-Stage Ankle Arthrosis Best Managed with Total Ankle Replacement or Arthrodesis? A Systematic Review

Table 3

Assessment of papers according to STROBE statement [24].

	Item number	Recommendation	Schuh et al., 2012 [26]	Esparragoza et al., 2011 [27]	Saltzman et al., 2010 [29]	Krause et al., 2011 [28]
Title and abstract	1	(a) Indicate the study’s design with a commonly used term in the title or the abstract.	No	Yes	No	No
		(b) Provide in the abstract an informative and balanced summary of what was done and what was found.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Introduction
Background/rationale	2	Explain the scientific background and rationale for the investigation being reported.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Objectives	3	State specific objectives, including any prespecified hypotheses.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Methods
Study design	4	Present key elements of study design early in the paper.	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Setting	5	Describe the setting, locations, and relevant dates, including periods of recruitment, exposure, follow-up, and data collection.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Participants	6	(a) Cohort study—give the eligibility criteria and the sources and methods of selection of participants. Describe methods of follow-up.; Case-control study—give the eligibility criteria and the sources and methods of case ascertainment and control selection. Give the rationale for the choice of cases and controls.; Cross-sectional study—give the eligibility criteria and the sources and methods of selection of participants.	No	No	No	Yes
		(b) Cohort study—for matched studies, give matching criteria and number of exposed and unexposed.; Case-control study—for matched studies, give matching criteria and the number of controls per case.	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Variables	7	Clearly define all outcomes, exposures, predictors, potential confounders, and effect modifiers. Give diagnostic criteria, if applicable.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Data; sources/measurement	8	For each variable of interest, give sources of data and details of methods of assessment (measurement). Describe comparability of assessment methods if there is more than one group.	No	No	No	Yes
Bias	9	Describe any efforts to address potential sources of bias.	No	No	No	Yes
Study size	10	Explain how the study size was arrived at.	No	No	No	No
Quantitative variables	11	Explain how quantitative variables were handled in the analyses. If applicable, describe which groupings were chosen and why.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Statistical methods	12	(a) Describe all statistical methods, including those used to control for confounding.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
		(b) Describe any methods used to examine subgroups and interactions.	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
		(c) Explain how missing data were addressed.	No	n/a	No	No
		(d) Cohort study—if applicable, explain how loss to follow-up was addressed.; Case-control study—if applicable, explain how matching of cases and controls was addressed.; Cross-sectional study—if applicable, describe analytical methods taking account of sampling strategy.	No	n/a	No	n/a
		(e) Describe any sensitivity analyses.	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
	13	(a) Report numbers of individuals at each stage of study—for example, numbers of potentially eligible, examined for eligibility, confirmed eligible, included in the study, completing follow-up, and analysed.	No	No	Yes	Yes
		(b) Give reasons for nonparticipation at each stage.	No	n/a	Yes	Yes
		(c) Consider use of a flow diagram.	No	No	No	No
Descriptive data	14	(a) Give characteristics of study participants (e.g., demographic, clinical, and social) and information on exposures and potential confounders.	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
		(b) Indicate number of participants with missing data for each variable of interest.	No	No	No	No
		(c) Cohort study—summarise follow-up time (e.g., average and total amount).	Yes	Yes	Yes
Outcome data	15	Cohort study—report numbers of outcome events or summary measures over time.	No	No	No	No
		Case-control study—report numbers in each exposure category, or summary measures of exposure.
		Cross-sectional study—report numbers of outcome events or summary measures.
Main results	16	(a) Give unadjusted estimates and, if applicable, confounder-adjusted estimates and their precision (e.g., 95% confidence interval). Make clear which confounders were adjusted for and why they were included.	No	No	No	No
		(b) Report category boundaries when continuous variables were categorized.	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
		(c) If relevant, consider translating estimates of relative risk into absolute risk for a meaningful time period.	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Other analyses	17	Report other analyses done—for example, analyses of subgroups and interactions and sensitivity analyses.	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Discussion
Key results	18	Summarise key results with reference to study objectives.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Limitations	19	Discuss limitations of the study, taking into account sources of potential bias or imprecision. Discuss both direction and magnitude of any potential bias.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Interpretation	20	Give a cautious overall interpretation of results considering objectives, limitations, multiplicity of analyses, results from similar studies, and other relevant lines of evidence.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Generalisability	21	Discuss the generalisability (external validity) of the study results.	No	No	No	No
Other information
Funding	22	Give the source of funding and the role of the funders in the present study and, if applicable, in the original study on which the present paper is based.	No	No	No	Yes