Kim‐Fuchs 2012.

Methods	Two‐armed randomized trial. Randomized by numbered sealed envelopes. The trial was unblinded. Unilateral hernia. Country: Switzerland. Setting: Kantonspital Aarau, Switzerland. Enrolment dates: between January 2001 and December 2004.
Participants	Inclusion criteria: Male, age over 25 years, primary unilateral hernia, elective surgery, and hernias classified as LIII, MII, MIII and ML. Exclusion criteria: Age < 25 years, emergency, recurrent hernia, femoral hernia, size of defect (LI, LII, MI), hydrocele or varicocele on hernia side, infected operation field, immune deficiency. 131 participants with mean age of 55.1 (28 to 85) years in Glue group 133 participants with mean age of 56.8 (25 to 83) years in Suture group. Sex: not reported. Direct:indirect: not reported. Right:left: not reported.
Interventions	Lichtenstein inguinal hernioplasty with VIPRO II (lightweight, Ethicon, Johnson & Johnson Medical Products, Vienna, Austria). Glue group: Histoacryl® (Braun Medical, Sempach, Switzerland); Suture group: PDS 2.0 (polydioxanone; Ethicon);
Outcomes	Haematoma, hospital stay, hypersthesia, chronic pain, hernia recurrence, hospital length of stay, length of operation, mesh infection.
Notes	Handling of nerves: For most of the participants, the nerves were identified and preserved during surgery. Length of follow‐up: 5 years. Time points of the analysis: 3 months for chronic pain and 5 year for recurrence. Intention‐to‐treat analysis: no. The number of participants randomized: 131 in Glue group; 133 in Suture group The number of participants evaluated: 129 in Glue group; 131 in Suture group Registered with the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (SFOPH‐99‐0021). Information from publication only. No details of funding sources and any declarations of interest provided.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not clear.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Randomized by numbered sealed envelopes. The envelope was opened intraoperatively after the hernia was classified.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	The trial was unblinded.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	The trial was unblinded.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	After 3 months, 2 participants in each group were lost to follow‐up, after 12 months 13 in group I and 17 in group II. After 5 years, 33 participants were lost in group I and 41 in group II. But the proportion of missing outcomes is comparable between the 2 groups.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	It is clear that the published reports include all expected outcomes.
Other bias	Unclear risk	Not clear. Without details of funding sources and any declarations of interest.