Literature Search Methods

A limited literature search was conducted on key resources including CINAHL, PubMed, The Cochrane Library (2015, Issue 3), University of York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) and ECRI databases, Canadian and major international health technology agencies, as well as a focused Internet search. No filters were applied to limit the retrieval by study type. Where possible, retrieval was limited to the human population. The search was also limited to English language documents published between January 1, 2010 and March 10, 2015.

Rapid Response reports are organized so that the evidence for each research question is presented separately.

Selection Criteria and Methods

One reviewer screened citations and selected studies. In the first level of screening, titles and abstracts were reviewed and potentially relevant articles were retrieved and assessed for inclusion. The final selection of full-text articles was based on the inclusion criteria presented in Table 1.

Table 1

Selection Criteria.

Exclusion Criteria

Articles were excluded if they did not meet the selection criteria outlined in Table 1, were duplicate publications, were published prior to 2010, or if they were referenced in a selected systematic review. Articles were also excluded if they enrolled adult patients only, or when a mixed population of adults and children was enrolled, there were no separate results available for children. Articles were excluded if health-related outcomes were not reported.

Critical Appraisal of Individual Studies

The quality of the included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were critically appraised using Downs and Black checklist.¹⁰ Numeric scores were not calculated. Instead, a review of the strengths and limitations of each included study were described.