Jansson 2003

Methods	Treatment allocation by birth year Non blinded assessment Minimum follow‐up: 21 months (21 to 38 months, 2003 publication); 47 months (median 5 years, 2006 publication) Loss to follow‐up (excluded from analysis): 2003 ‐ 8 PT; 2006 ‐ 13 PT and 3 HT Graft re‐ruptures (high energy trauma): 2 HT (excluded from analysis) Failures: 2 HT (excluded from analysis)
Participants	Finland 99 participants with acute or chronic (1 week to 20 years), isolated unilateral ACL tears PT: n = 51 (no age or gender information) HT: n = 48 (no age or gender information)
Interventions	Arthroscopically‐assisted ACL reconstruction with: 1. Patellar tendon (2 incisions; proximal and tibial fixation ‐ interference metal screws (8 or 9 mm)) versus 2. Hamstring tendon: semitendinosus/gracilis tendons (one incision; 4 strands; proximal fixation ‐ titanium plate attached with a Dacron loop; tibial fixation ‐ cortical screw (4.5 mm) and spiked washer)
Outcomes	Minimum 21 months and median 60 months follow‐up for: Lachman (positive or negative test); pivot shift (positive or negative); stability with CA‐4000 arthrometer; strength with Lido Multijoint II dynamometer (60 & 180 degrees/second); IKDC; Lysholm; Tegner; Kujala patellofemoral score form; range of motion (mean extension deficit); radiographic assessment
Notes	No additional methodological information or individual patient data were received from the authors.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	High risk	Treatment allocation by birth year
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	High risk
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	High risk
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	Patients who were lost to follow‐up and who suffered graft re‐ruptures and failures were excluded.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	High risk	For the Tegner Activity outcome score, data from Jansson 2003 were taken from the original two‐year publication and follow‐up period because this data for the later follow‐up period was not reported (Harilainen 2006).
Other bias	High risk	No baseline information on age and gender distribution was provided