Table 1. Study characteristics.

First author	Year	Country	Study period	Population type	Design	Number (n)			Age (years)			Male (%)			Operation time (min)			Mean length of stay (days)
						Nuss	Ravitch		Nuss	Ravitch		Nuss	Ravitch		Nuss	Ravitch		Nuss	Ravitch
Boehm	2004	Germany	2000–2002	Pediatric	Retrospective	21	7		14.4	17.8		95.2	71.4		53	125		NR	NR
Inge	2003	USA	1996–1999	Pediatric	Retrospective	43	25		11.6	10.9		NR	NR		70	198		2.4	4.4
Jo	2003	Korea	1995–2002	Pediatric	Retrospective	107	16		7.9	8.8		73.8	87.5		67.2	196.9		8	15.9
Kang	2012	Korea	2001–2004	Pediatric	Retrospective	63	37		6.6	4.8		84.1	78.4		53.8	213.8		4.4	9.9
Kelly	2007	USA	2001–2006	Pediatric	Prospective observational	284	43		NR	NR		NR	NR		NR	NR		NR	NR
Lam	2008	Canada	2003–2006	Pediatric	Retrospective	19	24		15.4	5.5		94.7	83.3		72.1	84.1		4.5	3.9
Miller	2001	USA	1995–2001	Pediatric	Retrospective	80	32		11.5	9.4		NR	NR		53	143		3.7	3.2
Molik	2001	USA	1995–1999	Pediatric	Retrospective	35	68		9.5	12.6		NR	NR		198	282		4.8	4
Nuss	1998	USA	1987–1996	Pediatric	Retrospective	42	8		NR	NR		NR	NR		NR	NR		NR	NR
Papic	2014	USA	2007–2012	Pediatric	Retrospective	125	56		14.6	15.7		81.6	83.9		NR	NR		NR	NR
Fonkalsrud	2002	USA	1996–2000	Mixed	Retrospective	68	139		12	17.3		27.9	20.1		75	212		6.5	2.9
Antonoff	2009	USA	NR	Adult	Retrospective	14	56		19.4	23.4		85.7	83.9		109	110		3.9	2.2
Muhammad	2014	Saudi Arabia	2009–2012	Adult	Prospective observational	11	9		26.5	25.2		81.8	88.9		65.2	197.7		8.6	5.3

NR, not reported; USA, United States of America.