Shaukat 2018.

Study characteristics
Methods	Randomised controlled trial Location Surgery Department of Dow University Hospital, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan Study dates  Between January 2015 to December 2016
Participants	Inclusion/exclusion criteria Ventral hernias (non‐ obstructed or strangulated) Patient characteristics (nonabsorbable sutures (30) / nonabsorbable tacks (23)) Age (mean, SD): 46.47 (8.17) / 31.32 (4.49) Gender (male, %): 8 (26.7%) / 0 BMI (kg/m2, mean, SD): 42.04 (9.0) / 28.37 (5.35) Hernia type (incisional, %): 12 (40.0%) / 9 (39.1%) Hernia size (≥ 4 cm cm2): 26 (86.7%) / 13 (56.5%) Comorbidity: NR
Interventions	Intervention/control: nonabsorbable tacks versus nonabsorbable sutures Mesh: NR Intra‐abdominal mesh position: onlay Surgical approach: Open
Outcomes	Pain, length of hospital stay, duration of surgery
Notes	Funding source(as originally reported) Not reported Declarations of interest for the primary investigators (as originally reported) Not reported Data for sensitivity analyses Randomised: 30/23 Analysed: not reported.  Imputed in ITT sensitivity analysis: not reported
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not reported, imbalance in participant characteristics suggests problem with randomisation
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No information reported
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Surgeon not blinded. Other caregivers and participants unclear
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	No information reported
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	No information on amount of dropouts reported
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	High risk	Outcomes that are expected to be reported, like recurrence or postoperative complications are not stated in the publication
Other bias	Low risk	None detected