Karegoudar 2012.

Study characteristics
Methods	RCT
Participants	200 people (older than 15 years) having "all elective surgeries", "except neck, face and thyroid" in India. Dates not given.
Interventions	Group 1: hair removal with depilatory cream (n = 100) Group 2: hair removal with razor (n = 100) Product details: no details are given on the razor or the cream. Timing of hair removal: not reported. Hair removed by: not reported. Venue for hair removal: not reported.
Outcomes	Outcome: "the effect of preoperative shaving with chemical depilation on wound infection". No definition of infection is given, nor how data were assessed or by whom.
Notes	No data presented. No funding sources mentioned. No details of conflict of interest.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Quote: "The prospective randomised study" Comment: no details on randomisation.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not reported. Comment: not clear whether the person responsible for allocation to groups would have been able to predict to which group a potential participant would be allocated.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Care providers blinded	Unclear risk	Not reported. Comment: unclear whether care providers were blinded to intervention allocation.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) Participants blinded	High risk	Not reported. Comment: participants would have been aware if hair had been removed.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Not reported. Comment: unclear whether assessors were blinded to intervention allocation.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) ITT analysis undertaken	Unclear risk	Not reported. Comment: no discussion of whether participants were analysed in groups to which they had been allocated.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) Drop out rate acceptable	Unclear risk	Not reported. Comment: insufficient details to permit a judgement.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	High risk	Outcomes are not reported. Comment: possible selective reporting.
Other bias	Unclear risk	Comment: no information given on the similarity of groups.