Table 3 GRADE assessment of outcome measures
Quality assessment | No of patients | Effect | Quality | Importance | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No of studies | Design | Risk of bias | Inconsistency | Indirectness | Imprecision | Other considerations | Seroma occurrence rate | Control | Relative (95% CI) | Absolute | ||
Seroma occurrence rate | ||||||||||||
7 | randomised trials | serious1,2 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | no serious imprecision | none | 9/709 (1.3%) | 31/994 (3.1%) | RR 0.43 (0.2 to 0.89) | 18 fewer per 1000 (from 3 fewer to 25 fewer) | ⊕⊕⊕O MODERATE | IMPORTANT |
3.2% | 18 fewer per 1000 (from 4 fewer to 26 fewer) | |||||||||||
overall complication rate | ||||||||||||
6 | randomised trials | serious1,2 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | serious3 | none | 54/442 (12.2%) | 63/459 (13.7%) | RR 0.88 (0.62 to 1.23) | 16 fewer per 1000 (from 52 fewer to 32 more) | ⊕⊕OO LOW | IMPORTANT |
11.4% | 14 fewer per 1000 (from 43 fewer to 26 more) | |||||||||||
overall infection event rate | ||||||||||||
7 | randomised trials | serious1,2 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | serious3 | none | 6/723 (0.8%) | 7/989 (0.7%) | RR 0.96 (0.36 to 2.56) | 0 fewer per 1000 (from 5 fewer to 11 more) | ⊕⊕OO LOW | IMPORTANT |
0% | - | |||||||||||
VAS pain score at 6 months postoperatively (Better indicated by lower values) | ||||||||||||
2 | randomised trials | serious1,2 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | no serious imprecision | none | 89 | 91 | - | MD 0.21 lower (0.29 to 0.12 lower) | ⊕⊕⊕O MODERATE | IMPORTANT |
cost (Better indicated by lower values) | ||||||||||||
2 | randomised trials | serious1,2 | serious4 | no serious indirectness | no serious imprecision | none | 88 | 88 | - | MD 3.23 lower (4.26 to 2.19 lower) | ⊕⊕OO LOW | IMPORTANT |
recurrence rate | ||||||||||||
9 | randomised trials | serious1,2 | no serious inconsistency | no serious indirectness | serious3 | none | 4/797 (0.5%) | 8/1082 (0.74%) | RR 0.75 (0.28 to 1.99) | 2 fewer per 1000 (from 5 fewer to 7 more) | ⊕⊕OO LOW | CRITICAL |
0% | - | |||||||||||