39 records identified through database searching
1 records identified through other resources
40 records before duplicates removed
35 records screened
23 records excluded due to titles/abstracts exclude
12 full-text articles assessed for eligibility
8 full-text included in qualitative synthesis
8 studies included into meta-analysis
Identification
Screening
Eligibility
Included
5 duplicates excluded
No useable numerical data
Published as abstract only
Meta-analysis with all papers already included
Data not generalisable
Uses data already included
Not available in English
Controls on other groups
Not all cases were tumors
Outcome measures were hospital admission and not associated with cancer
4 full-text articles excluded
No useable numerical data (2)
Meta-analysis with all papers already included (1)
Uses data already included (1)