Ref (type)	Population	Outcome, Interventions	Results and statistical analysis	Effect size	Favours
Hospital stay
Systematic review	3733 people 17 RCTs in this analysis	Duration of hospital stay with open mesh repair with open suture repair	WMR in length of stay: 0.28 days 95% CI 0.22 to 0.35 The difference in hospital stay was small and may be of limited importance to people having surgery	Effect size not calculated	open mesh repair
Operation duration
RCT	106 people; 100 primary hernias, 6 recurrent hernias	Operating time 33 minutes with open mesh repair 49 minutes with open suture repair	P <0.05 See further information on studies for details on generalisability and power	Effect size not calculated	open mesh repair
RCT	196 men; 216 primary inguinal hernias	Time taken for repair 55.34 minutes with open mesh repair 59.34 minutes with open suture repair	P >0.05 See further information on studies for details on generalisability and power		Not significant