Characteristics of included randomised controlled trials
| Characteristic | No (%) |
|---|---|
| Examines primary disease | 854 (88.0) |
| Examines complication of disease | 117 (12.0) |
| Location of study sites (WHO Regions)*: | |
| Africa | 283 (27.6) |
| Southeast Asia | 276 (26.9) |
| Americas | 201 (19.6) |
| Eastern Mediterranean | 132 (12.9) |
| Western Pacific | 96 (9.4) |
| Europe | 38 (3.7) |
| No of sites: | |
| Single centre | 945 (97.3) |
| Multicentre | 26 (2.7) |
| Cluster randomised trials | 27 (2.8) |
| Crossover trials | 15 (1.5) |
| Funding: | |
| Contains explicit statement | 565 (58.2) |
| Any industry funding | 107 (11.0) |
| Any public funding | 388 (40.0) |
| Any charity or foundation funding | 184 (18.9) |
| Any university or hospital funding | 79 (8.1) |
| No explicit statement of funding | 404 (41.6) |
| Unable to ascertain | 2 (<1) |
| Trial size (total No randomised participants)†: | |
| Mean | 191.0 |
| Median (IQR) | 89 (42-184) |
| Follow-up (years): | |
| ≤1 | 772 (79.5) |
| >1 | 199 (20.5) |
IQR=interquartile range.
*Total number of study sites is more than 971 because of multicentre trials.
†Calculated with “units of randomisation” in each trial, including number of clusters in cluster randomised trials and number of randomised units in trials in which unit of randomisation was not individual (for example, skin lesions in leishmaniasis or eyes in trachoma). It slightly underestimates number of individual participants.