Antiplatelets or anticoagulants? Secondary prevention in cervical artery dissection: an updated meta-analysis

Table 1 PICOs framework and applied inclusion and exclusion criteria

PICOs	Inclusion Criteria	Exclusion Criteria
Population	Adults with extracranial internal carotid or vertebral artery dissections (spontaneous or due to recreational activities or sport related minor injuries)	Cases with severe traumatic causes of arterial dissections Intracranial dissections Children
Intervention vs Comparison	Antiplatelet treatment (single or dual) including aspirin, indobufen, dipyridamole, ticlopidine, clopidogrel, sulfinpyrazone Anticoagulant treatment (traditional or newer agents) including heparin, coumarin, warfarin, dabigatran, rivaroxaban, apixaban	Stents or Surgical repairs as first treatment
Outcome	Ischaemic stroke Ischaemic stroke or TIA Death
Study design	Randomized controlled trials (RCT) Controlled clinical trials (CCT) Non-randomized studies including observational studies and cases series Must provide evidence of dissection Outcome data allows comparison between antiplatelets and anticoagulants Databases: Medline, CENTRAL, ClinicalTrials.gov Search period: Inception to May 2021	Systematic review Meta-analysis Case overlaps Less than five cases

PICOs = Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome and study design, TIA = transient ischaemic attack, CENTRAL = Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials
The above table (Table 1) with its legend should appear at the end of the Data Search sub-section and before Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria sub-section under METHODS section

ISSN: 2524-3489