Meta-analysis of transanal vs laparoscopic total mesorectal excision of low rectal cancer: Importance of appropriate patient selection

Table 3 Methodological quality of the observational studies assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa scale

Author	Representativeness of the exposed cohort	Selection of the non-exposed cohort	Ascertainment of exposure	Demonstration that outcome of interest was not present at start of study	Comparability of cohorts on the basis of the design or analysis	Assessment of outcome	Was follow-up long enough for outcomes to occur	Adequacy of follow up of cohorts	Total score
de’Angelis[13], 2015	*	*	*	*	**	*	*	*	9
Kanso et al[14], 2015	*	*	*	*	**	*	*	*	9
Marks et al[16], 2016	*	*	*	*	-	*	*	*	7
Lelong et al[17], 2017	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	8
Mege et al[19], 2018	*	*	*	*	**	*	*	*	9
Rubinkiewicz et al[20], 2018	*	*	*	*	**	*	*	*	9
Roodbeen et al[21], 2019	*	*	*	*	**	*	*	*	9
Rubinkiewicz et al[22], 2019	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	8
Ren et al[23], 2021	*	*	*	*	**	*	*	*	9
Li et al[24], 2022	*	*	*	*	**	*	*	*	9