Long-term prognostic role of adiponectin in stable coronary artery disease: A meta-analysis of prospective studies

Table 1 Newcastle Ottawa Scale for critical appraisal of included studies

Criteria		Study 1	Study 2	Study 3	Study 4	Study 5
Selection
Representativeness of the exposed cohort	Were the included patient’s representative of the population with stable CAD	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Selection of the non-exposed cohort	Were appropriate comparison groups selected to evaluate the association between adiponectin and outcomes in stable CAD patients	-	-	Yes	-	Yes
Ascertainment of exposure	Were adiponectin levels accurately measured and defined in the studies	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Demonstration that outcome of interest was not present at the start of the study	Were patients with pre-existing conditions or adverse outcomes excluded or adequately accounted for at baseline	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Comparability
Comparability of cohorts on the basis of the design or analysis	Did the studies control for only for main factor or all potential confounding factors or perform appropriate adjustments when examining the association between adiponectin and outcomes in stable CAD patients	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Outcome
Assessment of outcome	Were the outcomes of interest (e.g., cardiovascular events, mortality) clearly defined and assessed using standardized criteria across the studies	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Was follow-up long enough for outcomes to occur	Did the studies have a sufficient follow-up period to capture the occurrence of outcomes in stable CAD patients with adiponectin levels	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Adequacy of follow-up of cohorts	Did the studies achieve a high follow-up rate for both the exposed and non-exposed cohorts throughout the follow-up period	-	-	Yes	-	Yes

CAD: Coronary artery disease.