Docobo‐Durantez 2006.

Methods	RCT Methods to control for contributory patient factors: none described
Participants	Age: Group 1: > 65 years 47.9% Group 2: > 65 years 49.2% Gender: Group 1: 47.2% female Group 2: 44.2% female Type of incision: overall, 78.1% were midline Type of surgery: Group 1: emergency 27.5% Group 2: emergency 28.2% Contamination classification of included participants: information not provided Pre‐operative antibiotic use: not described Prognostic patient factors: Group 1: malignancy 54.3%. obesity 17.1%, diabetes 18.4%, corticosteroids 4.4%, jaundice 4.2%, hypoproteinaemia 16.6%, renal failure 4.0%, ascites 1.3% Group 2: malignancy 52.7%, obesity 22.3%, diabetes 15.4%, corticosteroids 6.9%, jaundice 5.3%, hypoproteinaemia 13.8%, renal failure 5.0%, ascites 4.1% Inclusion criteria: laparotomies performed for gastrointestinal diseases and hepato‐biliopancreatic procedures (including transplant) in patients with at least 1 risk factor for wound complications: male, age > 65 years, pulmonary disease, haemodynamic instability, emergency surgery, hypoproteinaemia, clinical infection, obesity, renal failure, malignancy, ascites, steroids, hypertension, anaemia, jaundice or diabetes Exclusion criteria: hernia repair surgery, bariatric surgery, need for reinforcement sutures, uncommon incisions (including paramedian and McBurney incisions), life expectancy of < 1.5 years and deaths unrelated to wounds
Interventions	Comparisons reported: Group 1 Suture: PDS (monofilament, slowly absorbable) Suturing technique: continuous Closure method: mass Group 2: Suture: nylon (monofilament, non‐absorbable) Suturing technique: continuous Closure method: mass Surgeon characteristics: information not provided
Outcomes	Incisional hernia: no definition provided Follow‐up duration: 3, 6, 12 and 18 months Wound infection: "as per the Center for Disease Control (CDC) definition for surgical site infection" Dehiscence: no definition provided
Notes	Extremely high loss to follow‐up. Hernia data at 1 year used in analysis
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Computer‐generated randomisation tables created
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not described
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Not described
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	Only 104/451 in PDS group and 72/319 in nylon group followed up at 1 year
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Hernia (at least 1 year); dehiscence and wound infection outcomes all reported
Other bias	Low risk	The study appears to be free of other sources of bias