ABSTRACT
We were unable to statistically synthesise the data in a meta-analysis because there was an absence of the kind of quantitative data that could fit into a meta-analysis. Therefore the synthesis took the form of a qualitative overview: a qualitative description of the main findings of the ‘sound’ trial and its methodological strengths and weaknesses; and a description of the methodological shortcomings of the five trials that, in the first review, were judged to be ‘not sound’ according to the EPPI Reviewer criteria.
