Table 1.

Previous meta-analyses regarding prophylactic antibiotics for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Published date	Group	Analysis model	Heterogeneity	No. of postoperative infections (%)			OR (95% CI) of the overall infections	Conclusions
(No. of RCTs included)				SSIs	Distant infections	Overall infections
20031 (5)	Antibiotics	Not stated	Not significant	9/528 (1.7)	4/528 (0.8)	—	—	Do not support the use of prophylactic antibiotics
	Control			9/371 (2.4)	6/371 (1.6)	—
20042 (6)	Antibiotics	Random effects	Not significant	12/567 (2.1)	4/567 (0.7)	16/567 (2.8)	0.69 (0.34 to 1.43)	No need to administer routine antibiotics
	Control			12/407 (2.9)	6/407 (1.5)	18/407 (4.4)
20083 (9)	Antibiotics	Not stated	Not significant	15/797 (1.9)	4/499 (0.8)	19/797 (2.4)	0.66 (0.35 to 1.24)	Antibiotics do not prevent infections
	Control			17/640 (2.7)	6/297 (2.0)	23/640 (3.6)
20094 (15)	Antibiotics	Fixed effects	Not significant	25/1465 (1.7)	6/613 (1.0)	31/1465 (2.1)	0.77 (0.47 to 1.27)	Antibiotics are unnecessary
	Control			27/1443 (1.9)	9/452 (2.0)	36/1443 (2.5)
20105 (11)	Antibiotics	Fixed effects	Not significant	24/900 (2.7)	7/657 (1.1)	—	—	No evidence to support or refute antibiotics
	Control			25/764 (3.3)	10/531 (1.9)	—
20116 (12)	Antibiotics	Not stated	Not significant	25/991 (2.5)	11/786 (1.4)	36/991 (3.6)	1.11 (0.68 to 1.82)	Antibiotics are not necessary
	Control			21/946 (2.2)	11/736 (1.5)	32/946 (3.4)
20167 (19)	Antibiotics	Random effects	Not significant except for overall infections	65/2709 (2.4)	28/1488 (1.9)	62/1488 (4.2)	0.64 (0.36 to 1.14)	Antibiotics should not be administered
	Control			82/2550 (3.2)	51/1338 (3.8)	96/1338 (7.2)

RCT, randomised controlled trial; SSI, surgical site infection; —, not estimated.