“…Table shows the main characteristics of the 23 included studies. Of the 14 included cohorts, two were population based (Miranda et al., ; Tubach et al., ), one cohort [three articles (Vroomen et al., , , b)] reported on patients from primary care and 11 cohorts [18 articles (Bush et al., ; Atlas et al., , , , ; Valls et al., ; Edwards et al., ; Jensen et al., ; Karppinen et al., ; Peul et al., , b; Rasmussen et al., ; Freedman et al., ; Olson et al., ; Rihn et al., ; Suri et al., ; Albert et al., ; Jacobsen et al., )] on patients from secondary care. The diagnosis of sciatica in five cohorts was confirmed with diagnostic imaging [nine articles (Karppinen et al., ; Peul et al., , b; Atlas et al., ; Freedman et al., ; Olson et al., ; Rihn et al., ; Suri et al., ; Jacobsen et al., )], seven cohorts based the diagnosis primarily on clinical criteria [12 articles (Bush et al., ; Atlas et al., , , ; Vroomen et al., , , b; Valls et al., ; Edwards et al., ; Jensen et al., ; Rasmussen et al., ; Albert et al., )] and two cohorts on self‐reported presence of back pain radiating to the leg (Miranda et al., ; Tubach et al., ).…”