Ref (type)	Population	Outcome, Interventions	Results and statistical analysis	Effect size	Favours
Complications (general)
RCT	261 people	Complications (general) after 2 years 7 with TEP laparoscopic repair 4 with open suture repair	P value not reported		Not significant
Haematoma
Systematic review	1337 people 3 RCTs in this analysis	Haematoma with TEP laparoscopic repair with open suture repair	OR 1.27 95% CI 0.70 to 2.33 Data analysed using fixed-effects model; see further information on studies for full details		Not significant
Injury
Systematic review	1279 people 3 RCTs in this analysis	Vascular injury with TEP laparoscopic repair with open suture repair	OR 0.55 95% CI 0.06 to 5.30 Data analysed using fixed-effects model; see further information on studies for full details		Not significant
Systematic review	1098 people 2 RCTs in this analysis	Visceral injury 0 with TEP laparoscopic repair 0 with open suture repair
Seroma
Systematic review	1279 people 3 RCTs in this analysis	Seroma with TEP laparoscopic repair with open suture repair	OR 7.65 95% CI 2.33 to 25.09 Data analysed using fixed-effects model; see further information on studies for full details	Large effect size	open suture repair
Infection
Systematic review	1279 people 3 RCTs in this analysis	Superficial infection with TEP laparoscopic repair with open suture repair	OR 0.14 95% CI 0.03 to 0.61 Data analysed using fixed-effects model; see further information on studies for full details	Large effect size	TEP laparoscopic repair
Systematic review	1098 people 2 RCTs in this analysis	Deep infection 0 with TEP laparoscopic repair 0 with open suture repair