A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of clinical pathways on length of stay, hospital costs and patient outcomes

Table 3 Characteristics of studies included

Study-ID	Study Quality	Country	Sample Size [N]	Mean Age [Years]	Diagnosis/Intervention
Invasive Care
Grines, CL 1998	Class I	USA*	471	56	Primary Angioplasty in Myocardial Infarction
Swanson, CE 1998	Class II	Australia	67	55	Femoral Fractures
Dowsey, MM 1999	Class II	Australia	163	66	Hip and Knee Arthroplasty
Choong, PF 2000	Class II	Australia	111	81	Fractured Neck of Femur
Aizawa, T 2002	Class II	Japan	69	71	Transurethral Resection of the Prostate
Kiyama, T 2003	Class II	Japan	85	63	Gastrectomy
Hirao, M 2005	Class II	Japan	103	61	Gastrectomy
Non-Invasive Care
Falconer, JA 1993	Class II	USA*	121	68	Stroke Rehabilitation
Gomez, MA 1996	Class I	USA*	100	52	Myocardial Ischemia
Roberts, RR 1997	Class II	USA*	165	48	Chest Pain
Johnson, KB 2000	Class II	USA*	110	7	Paediatric Asthma
Kollef, HM 2000	Class II	USA*	489	60	Respiratory Care
Marrie, TJ 2000	Class I	USA*	19***	64	Community-Acquired Pneumonia
Sulch, D 2000	Class II	UK**	152	75	Stroke Rehabilitation
Kim, MH 2002	Class II	USA*	18	48	Artrial Fibrillation
Chen, SH 2004	Class II	Taiwan	42	8	Paediatric Asthma
Usui, K 2004	Class II	Japan	61	48	Community-Acquired Pneumonia

Note: USA* = United States of America; UK** = United Kingdom; 19*** = (19) hospitals at random (1743 Patients)

ISSN: 1472-6963