Summary of findings 1. Clipping compared with no hair removal for participants undergoing surgery.
| Clipping compared with no hair removal for participants undergoing surgery | ||||||
| Patient or population: people undergoing surgery Setting: hospital Intervention: clipping Comparison: no hair removal | ||||||
| Outcomes | Anticipated absolute effects* (95% CI) | Relative effect (95% CI) | № of participants (studies) | Certainty of the evidence (GRADE) | Comments | |
| Risk with no hair removal | Risk with clipping | |||||
| Surgical site infection (SSIs) assessed with: proportion of SSIs follow‐up: 4 weeks | Study population | RR 0.95 (0.65 to 1.39) | 1733 (3 RCTs) | ⊕⊕⊝⊝ Low 1 | Pooled meta‐analysis suggests there may be little difference in SSIs when preoperative hair removal with clippers is compared with no hair removal. | |
| 60 per 1000 | 3 fewer SSIs per 1000 (21 fewer to 23 more) | |||||
| Wound complications | No data were reported for this outcome. | |||||
| Length of stay | No data were reported for this outcome. | |||||
| Cost of care | No data were reported for this outcome. | |||||
| *The risk in the intervention group (and its 95% confidence interval) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI). CI: confidence interval; RCT: randomised controlled trial; RR: risk ratio | ||||||
| GRADE Working Group grades of evidence High certainty: We are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect. Moderate certainty: We are moderately confident in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be close to the estimate of the effect, but there is a possibility that it is substantially different. Low certainty: Our confidence in the effect estimate is limited: the true effect may be substantially different from the estimate of the effect. Very low certainty: We have very little confidence in the effect estimate: the true effect is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect. | ||||||
1Downgraded two levels for very serious imprecision because of wide confidence intervals across the three included studies.