| Study ID |
Reason for exclusion |
| Alberti 2001 |
Study design |
| Azer 1971 |
Setting |
| Baird 1969 |
Outcomes |
| Bodey 1969 |
Study design (no control) |
| Bodey 1971 |
Study design (matched pairs) |
| Choctaw 1984 |
Policy confound (sterile versus clean attire) |
| Chow 2005 |
Study design (computer modelling) |
| Dekker 1994 |
Confounding |
| Demling 1978 |
Patients‐ mix of adults and children, data inseparable |
| Freireich 1975 |
Preliminary report of Rodriguez 1978; policy confound |
| Friberg 1999 |
Sham operations |
| Friberg 2003 |
One patient health‐related outcome reported (surgical site infections), but not enough detail on how it was assessed or if it was noted on an 'ad hoc' basis. |
| Gundermann 1974 |
Not patient outcomes |
| Lai 2001 |
Study design |
| Legg 1970 |
Not patient outcomes; test scenario |
| Lidwell 1969 |
Not patient outcomes; test scenario |
| Lidwell 1975 |
Study design |
| Lidwell 1982 |
Some relevant subgroups within study however cannot separate data (number of re‐operations in each subgroup). Additionally, there are discrepancies in reporting with Lidwell 1984 with 185 patients switching subgroups. |
| Lidwell 1984 |
Same study as Lidwell 1982. Non‐transparant reporting of findings‐ data not usable. Discrepancies between Lidwell 1982 and Lidwell 1984. |
| Lowbury 1971 |
Population‐ age |
| Lowbury 1978 |
Preliminary report of Lidwell 1982 and Lidwell 1984
|
| May 1984 |
Study design |
| Passweg 1998 |
Retrospective study; population (age) |
| Petersen 1987 |
Policy (decontamination) changes |
| Qian 2006 |
Mock setting |
| Rodriguez 1978 |
Policy confounding |
| Schimpff 1975 |
Policy confounding |
| Sherertz 1987 |
Study design |
| Steingold 1963 |
Study design |
| Whyte 1968 |
Not patient outcomes |
| Yates 1973 |
Policy confounding |
