Selection of studies
Two review authors (DB and MLN) independently selected trials
for inclusion in the review. They first reviewed titles and abstracts
and obtained full articles of studies judged potentially eligible.
Both DB and MLN screened the full articles for inclusion. There
was total agreement between the review authors for study inclusion
at each level (abstract and full report). An attempt was made
to contact an author of one abstract (Patessio 1996) to determine
if it was fully published or if unpublished data were available. The
author could not find the complete data. Please see the ’Characteristics
of excluded studies’ table for a list of reasons for exclusion.