Non-specific neck pain: diagnosis and treatment - KCE

KCE Reports 119 Non-Specific Neck Pain: diagnosis and treatment 11
Figure 2: Flow chart: final results of the second search for diagnosis and
prognosis
2.3 DATA EXTRACTION
Based on the selection described above, two researchers independently extracted the
data of the included systematic reviews using prepiloted forms. Data were reported in
an evidence table (appendix 2) containing four main themes ‘Diagnosis’, ‘Assessment of
pain and disability’, ‘Prognosis’ and ‘Treatment’. For the screening of the RCT’s and the
publications on diagnosis and prognosis on full text, one researcher extracted the data
of the included publications (respectively see appendix 3 and appendix 4). Data from the
selected guidelines were extracted by one researcher. Finally, the results from these
selected guidelines have been compared to the conclusions from the literature search
by two researchers.
The results of the data extractions are reported in appendix 5 and chapter 3.4.
The results from the literature are defined per main theme and subtheme in the
following paragraphs and where possible the level of evidence in “Grade” is given, 20, 21 .
• “Grade A”, highest level of evidence: RCTs without important limitations
or overwhelming evidence from observational studies;
• “Grade B”, moderate level of evidence: RCTs with important limitations
(inconsistent results, methodological flaws, indirect, or imprecise) or
exceptionally strong evidence from observational studies;
• “Grade C”, lowest level of evidence: studies with lower level of evidence
than above.