Center for General Practice at Aalborg University, Fyrkildevej 7, 9220, Aalborg East, Denmark.
The University of Queensland, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences: Physiotherapy: Sports Injury Rehabilitation and Prevention for Health, St. Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia.
J Foot Ankle Res. 2022 Sep 9;15(1):69. doi: 10.1186/s13047-022-00573-0.
Variable eligibility criteria across studies on plantar heel pain may result in compromising the generalisability of meta-analyses when heterogeneity is not accounted for. We aimed to explore: (i) heterogeneity of participant eligibility criteria in studies that have investigated plantar heel pain, and (ii) associations between key eligibility criteria and the characteristics of the participants included in the study.
In this systematic review with narrative synthesis, we extracted participant eligibility criteria, and participants' age, body mass index (BMI), symptom duration and pain level from published studies on plantar heel pain. We performed a content analysis of criteria and aligned overarching criteria to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). We pooled studies that used the same thresholds for participant eligibility criteria into sub-groups. We also pooled and reported studies that did not have any eligibility criteria for the quantitative characteristics to use their data for reference values and pooled studies that did not have any eligibility criteria for the characteristics as reference.
Two hundred and fourteen articles were included. The most reported participant eligibility criteria (as aligned to the ICF) related to body structures/function and personal factors. Age, BMI, symptom duration and pain level were used with various ranges and/or thresholds across studies (age was reported in 23 different ways across 97 studies; BMI 7/13; symptom duration 14/100; and pain level 8/31). When eligibility criteria included thresholds close to the reference value of a participant characteristic, characteristics were associated with criteria (e.g., younger participants when an upper age threshold was used).
Participant eligibility criteria in studies on plantar heel pain vary widely; studies differed substantially in their use of quantitative thresholds. Participant characteristics of samples in studies were associated with the criteria used. This study emphasises a need for adjusting for participant heterogeneity in systematic reviews to improve their validity.
由于研究中足底足跟痛的纳入标准存在差异，如果不考虑异质性，可能会影响meta 分析的可推广性。我们旨在探讨：（i）研究足底足跟痛的文献中，参与者纳入标准的异质性；（ii）关键纳入标准与纳入研究的参与者特征之间的关联。
在这项系统评价中，我们采用叙述性综合方法提取已发表的关于足底足跟痛研究的参与者纳入标准以及参与者的年龄、体重指数（BMI）、症状持续时间和疼痛程度。我们对标准进行了内容分析，并将总体标准与国际功能、残疾和健康分类（ICF）对齐。我们将使用相同参与者纳入标准阈值的研究进行分组。我们还汇集了没有任何参与者纳入标准的研究的数据作为参考值，以及没有任何参与者纳入标准的研究作为参考。
共纳入 214 篇文章。报道最多的参与者纳入标准（与 ICF 对齐）与身体结构/功能和个人因素有关。年龄、BMI、症状持续时间和疼痛程度在不同研究中使用了各种范围和/或阈值（97 项研究中有 23 种不同的年龄报告方式；BMI 有 7/13 种；症状持续时间有 14/100 种；疼痛水平有 8/31 种）。当纳入标准包括接近参与者特征参考值的阈值时，特征与标准相关（例如，当使用较高的年龄阈值时，年轻参与者）。
足底足跟痛研究中的参与者纳入标准差异很大；研究在使用定量阈值方面差异很大。研究样本的参与者特征与使用的标准相关。本研究强调了在系统评价中需要调整参与者异质性以提高其有效性。
