Table 4 Quality assessment of studies on lactose-free liquid feeds versus lactose-containing mixed diets
From: Dietary management of childhood diarrhea in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review
| Â | Â | QUALITY ASSESSMENT | SUMMARY OF FINDINGS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of studies | Diarrhea mode | Design | Limitations | Consistency | Generalizability to population of interest | Overall quality of evidence | Number of events in intervention group | Number of events in control group | Effect size (95% CI) |
OUTCOME: DURATION OF DIARRHEA | Standardized Mean Difference | ||||||||
1 | Acute | RCT | Single study of high quality | - | Non-malnourished infants and young children (≤24m) with acute diarrhea in LMICs | Low | - | - | 0.75 [0.22, 1.28] |
1 | Persistent | RCT | Single study of moderate quality | - | Malnourished weaned infants and young children (≤36m) with persistent diarrhea in LMICs | Low | - | - | 0.28 [-0.35, 0.90] |
OUTCOME: STOOL OUTPUT | Standardized Mean Difference | ||||||||
1 | Acute | RCT | Single study of high quality | - | Non-malnourished infants and young children (≤24m) with acute diarrhea in LMICs | Low | - | - | 0.62 [0.09, 1.14] |
2 | Persistent | RCT | Only two studies, both of moderate quality | Heterogeneous (I2= 50%) | Malnourished weaned infants and young children (≤36m) with persistent diarrhea in LMICs | Low | - | - | 0.22 [-0.33, 0.78] |
OUTCOME: WEIGHT GAIN | Standardized Mean Difference | ||||||||
1 | Acute | RCT | Single study of high quality | - | Non-malnourished infants and young children (≤24m) with acute diarrhea in LMICs | Low | - | - | 0.21 [-0.31, 0.72] |
2 | Persistent | RCT | Only two studies, both of moderate quality | Heterogeneous (I2= 94%) | Malnourished weaned infants and young children (≤36m) with persistent diarrhea in LMICs | Low | - | - | -0.35 [-2.00, 1.31] |
OUTCOME: TREATMENT FAILURE | Risk Ratio | ||||||||
2 | Acute | RCT | Only two studies, ranging from moderate to high quality | Heterogeneous (I2= 60%) | Non-malnourished infants and young children (≤24m) with acute diarrhea in LMICs | Low | 7 | 3 | 1.79 [0.15, 20.66] |
2 | Persistent | RCT | Only two studies, both of moderate quality | Heterogeneous (I2= 72%) | Malnourished weaned infants and young children (≤36m) with persistent diarrhea in LMICs | Low | 6 | 7 | 1.25 [0.07, 23.66] |