Table 2.
Demographics and clinical details of randomised participants by group
| Simple dressing n=131 | Glue as-a-dressing n=126 | ‘No dressing’ n=131 | Total n=388 | |
| Median age in years (IQR) | 55 (35.9–65.3) | 48 (32.3–66.2) | 53 (36.4–68.2) | 52 (34.7–66.9) |
| Female gender (%) | 80/131 (61.1) | 75/126 (59.5) | 72/131 (55.0) | 227/388 (58.5) |
| Median BMI (IQR)* | 28 (24.5–31.8) | 27 (24.2–32.0) | 28 (24.6–31.0) | 28 (24.3–31.6) |
| Ethnicity (%) white | 120/128 (93.8) | 105/119 (88.2) | 116/127 (91.3) | 341/374 (91.2) |
| Smoking history (%) | ||||
| Current smoker | 16/131 (12.2) | 22/125 (17.6) | 22/130 (16.9) | 60/386 (15.5) |
| Ex-smoker >1 month | 53/131 (40.1) | 36/125 (28.8) | 47/130 (36.2) | 136/386 (35.2) |
| Current steroids, PO/IV/IM (%) | 15/131 (11.5) | 4/126 (3.2) | 6/131 (4.6) | 25/388 (6.4) |
| Diabetes, any type (%) | 11/130 (8.5) | 10/126 (7.9) | 8/130 (6.2) | 29/386 (7.5) |
| ASA class (%) | ||||
| 1: Healthy, no medical problems | 43/128 (33.6) | 51/125 (40.8) | 40/131 (30.5) | 134/384 (34.9) |
| 2: Mild systemic disease | 72/128 (56.3) | 58/125 (46.4) | 73/131 (55.7) | 203/384 (52.9) |
| 3/4: Severe systemic disease | 13/128 (10.2) | 16/125 (12.8) | 18/131 (13.7) | 47/384 (12.2) |
| Wound closure (wounds/patients) | ||||
| Sutures | 240/121 (95.3) | 240/117 (95.1) | 229/117 (90.7) | 709/355 (93.7) |
| Clips | 14/10 (9.9) | 13/6 (6.1) | 16/12 (11.5) | 43/28 (9.2) |
| Steristrips | 20/9 (7.1) | 1/1 (0.8) | 7/5 (3.8) | 28/15 (4.0) |
| Glue (not planned) | 4/2 (2.0) | 2/2 (2.0) | 4/2 (1.9) | 10/6 (2.0) |
| Total no of wounds | 278 | 256 | 256 | 790 |
| Prophylactic antibiotics (%) | 101/129 (78.3) | 99/126 (78.6) | 96/130 (73.8) | 296/385 (76.9) |
| Infection risk of surgery (%)† | ||||
| Clean | 46/131 (35.1) | 49/126 (38.9) | 44/131 (33.6) | 139/388 (35.8) |
| Clean-contaminated | 81/131 (61.8) | 72/126 (57.1) | 81/131 (61.8) | 234/388 (60.3) |
| Contaminated/dirty | 4/131 (3.1) | 5/126 (4.0) | 6/131 (4.6) | 15/388 (3.9) |
*Four missing data (simple, glue-as-a-dressing, ‘no dressing’, 2, 1, 1, respectively), elsewhere when a cell denominator is different to the number in a column header, the difference arises because of missing data for that variable.
†Classified by type and urgency of surgery.
ASA, American Society of Anesthesia;BMI, body mass index; IM, intramuscular;IV, intravenous; PO, per oral.