| Methods |
RCT. Method of randomisation: computer‐generated random numbers table. Allocation concealment and blinding of participants and investigators (including outcome assessors) not reported. No ITT analysis.
Patients served as their own controls (i.e. one area of the same patient was treated with intervention while another similar area was taken as a control). |
| Participants |
48 adults (mean age: 38.5 years) with partial thickness burns presenting to an emergency department within 48 hours of injury. Cause of burn ‐ hot liquid, metal, flame or steam. Excluded if previously received treatment other than first aid, had electrical or chemical burns, or burns of the face, hands or perineum, suspected inhalation injury, required hospital admission and had concomitant diseases such as diabetes mellitus.
Patients excluded if they could not attend or commit to clinic visits, had poor language and judged to be likely poor compliers with treatment |
| Interventions |
Gp 1: n = 15 Hydrocolloid dressing (DuoDerm, ConvaTec Ltd, Bristol Myer Squibb)
Gp 2: n = 15 antiseptic tulle gras dressing with chlorhexidine acetate (Bactigras, Smith & Nephew) plus a layer of SSD |
| Outcomes |
Number of days to complete wound healing
Level of pain
Number of dressing changes
Need for pain medication
Ease of application and removal of dressing |
| Notes |
18 people dropped out from the study and not included in the final analysis |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Computer‐generated random numbers table |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Not reported |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
Trial described as "open" with different care protocols; no blinding of participants, investigators or assessors |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
High risk |
18 of 48 participants dropped out and were not included in the analyses; also missing data |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
All prespecified outcomes reported |
| Other bias |
High risk |
Table comparing groups at baseline included only the participants who continued in the study; study funded by pharmaceutical company |
