Table 3.

Evaluation of hernia/ burst abdomen and follow-up data (3 months and 1 year)

	Continuous suture (N = 59)	Interrupted suture (N = 60)	p value
Bulging hernial sac on day 30 (telephone interview)	1 (2.3%)	1 (2.2%)
Unclear	3 (6.8%)	1 (2.2%)	0.56
Missing	15	14
Palpable fascia gap on day 30 (telephone interview)	1 (2.3%)	2 (4.3%)
Unclear	3 (6.8%)	1 (2.2%)	0.50
Missing	15	14
Bulging hernial sac at 12 months (clinical examination)	3 (13.6%)	2 (6.9%)	0.42
Missing	37	31
Palpable fascia gap at 12 months (clinical examination)	1 (4.5%)	4 (13.8%)	0.27
Missing	37	31
Bulging hernial sac at 12 months (ultrasound examination)	1 (6.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0.21
Missing	44	37
Palpable fascia gap at 12 months (ultrasound examination)	0 (0.0%)	4 (17.4%)	0.09
Missing	44	37
Re-operation due to burst abdomen	4 (8.9%)	2 (4.3%)	0.38
Re-operation due to hernia	1 (3.0%)	4 (11.1%)	0.20
Completed the trial regularly according to the protocol	28 (47.5%)	32 (54.2%)	0.46
Reason for early trial termination
Withdrawal of informed consent	4 (12.9%)	2 (7.4%)	0.90
Lost to follow up	9 (29.0%)	8 (29.6%)
Death	10 (32.3%)	10 (37.0%)
Other	8 (25.8%)	7 (25.9%)

Data are presented as means (with standard deviations) or numbers of patients (with percentages), p values are reported according to χ² test for categorical variables and t test for continuous variables