Table 2

Summary of the quality grade rating of different outcome indicators for the efficacy of rTMS for GAD

Outcome indicator	Number of included cases	Heterogeneity		Model of analysis	Group effect value		Esimated value	95% CI	GRADE
Outcome indicator	Number of included cases	I²	p	Model of analysis	Z	p	Esimated value	95% CI	GRADE
Treatment effects: reduction of anxiety symptoms using HAMA	1481	75%	<0.001	Random effect	10.61	<0.001	−0.68 (SMD)	−0.89 to - 0.46	Moderate
Acceptability: drop-outs for any reason, no of drop-outs	1339	0%	0.57	Fixed effect	0.57	0.57	1.14 (RR)	0.72 to 1.82	Moderate
Safety of rTMS: adverse effects, no of adverse events	1073	0%	0.49	Fixed effect	0.43	0.67	0.95 (RR)	0.77 to 1.18	Moderate

GAD, generalised anxiety disorder; GRADE, Grading of Recommendation Assessment, Development and Evaluation; HAMA, Hamilton Anxiety Scale; RR, relative risk; rTMS, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; SMD, standardised mean difference.