| Methods |
Cohort
Retrospective
Cross‐sectional. |
| Participants |
132 rectal cancer patients with Ro resection between 1986‐ 2002, identified through hospital records. France |
| Interventions |
Quality of life assessment with EORTC‐C30/CR38. |
| Outcomes |
Quality of life. |
| Notes |
Evidence level: 2B.
Not stated: Tumour and anastomotic distance from anal verge; pouch. Tumour grade. |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
High risk |
Retrospective, cross‐sectional cohort study. Patients identified through electronic hospital records. Patients who had undergone surgery and meet predefined inclusion criteria were invited to participate. Not all eligible patients accepted to participate. |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
Anterior resection or abdominoperineal resection |
High risk |
Blinding not possible due to surgical therapy. |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
Quality of life |
Low risk |
All included patients completed the study. |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
All QoL data reported. |
