Mwaura 2006.

Methods	Prospective cohort Setting: hospital venous unit Country: Ireland Duration of follow‐up: 8 weeks Treatments: Profore (Smith & Nephew) graduated compression bandaging
Participants	40 participants with VLUs Mean age: 60 years Sex (M:F): 11:29 Stage of ulcer: CEAP stage 6 Ulcer duration: not reported Ulcer size at baseline: not reported Wound infection: not reported Number of wounds: 40 Inclusion criteria: aged ≥ 50 years, VLU duration ≥ 8 weeks, ABPI > 0.9 Exclusion criteria: deep venous reflux, history of DVT, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, use of steroids, immunosuppression, chronic renal or liver disease, smoker
Prognostic factors	MMP‐2 (continuous data); ng/mL. Measurement method ELISA: R&D kit, immunoassay with optical density measurements Time of measurement: baseline Wound fluid sampling method: entrapment in dressings (wound fluid extracted from non‐adherent dressing that was in place for < 36 hours before clinic attendance)
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Selection bias	Unclear risk	Moderate: participants attending the venous unit were recruited; no further details. Unclear whether representative
Attrition bias	Low risk	No missing data
Prognostic factor measurement	Unclear risk	Moderate: wound fluid extracted from dressings used for treatment; unclear if this is reasonable
Outcome measurement	Unclear risk	Moderate: unclear if blinded
Adjustment factors	High risk	None of the key adjustment factors taken into account in the design or analysis
Analysis and reporting	Low risk
Overall risk of bias	Unclear risk	Moderate overall