Table 5 Qualitative checklist of five population studies on chiropractic primary or early secondary prevention
First Author (Year) Journal Affiliation Country | Representativeness | Definition of chiropractic treatment | Outcome variables validated in some way? | Control for other variables that could have an effect on outcome | Comments by reviewers in relation to major methodological improvements needed to test effect/benefit of intervention | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Selection of study subjects (whole population, random selection, convenience sample) | Response/ Non response comparison | |||||
Hart [19] (2007) JVSR Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic USA | Whole population? | Not reported | Chiropractic care not described Presence of chiropractors | Probably acceptable, official register | No | To examine if chiropractors as opposed to medical practitioners have a real effect on health outcomes on a public health level, a more sophisticated type of analysis would be needed, taking into account a large number of variables that are linked to both the relative presence of chiropractors and the development of disease. This would have to be tested in multivariate models as it is not enough to investigate such variables one by one holding them up against the outcome variables (e.g. disease or mortality rates). |
Hart [20] (2007) Journal of Chiropractic Medicine Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic USA | Whole population? | Not reported | Chiropractic care not described Presence of chiropractors | Probably acceptable, official register | No | See above |
Hart [21] (2008) JVSR Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic USA | Whole population? | Not reported | Chiropractic care not described Presence of chiropractors | Probably acceptable, official register | No | See above |
Hart [22] JVSR (2008) JVSR Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic USA | Whole population? | Not reported | Chiropractic care not described Presence of chiropractors | Probably acceptable, official register | No | See above |
Hart [23] International Dose-Response Society (2013) Sherman College of Chiropractic USA | Whole population? | Not reported | Chiropractic care not described Presence of chiropractors | Not explained | No | See above |