Rahman 1995.

Methods	Single‐centre randomized controlled trial.
Participants	40 participants undergoing open repair of > 5.5 cm. Academic vascular surgery unit, Hull, UK. Statin naive. Mean age (years)/% female: atorvastatin group, ‐ 77.5 years/14%. Placebo: 72.0 years/15%.
Interventions	Intervention (N = 20) 80 mg/day atorvastatin. Placebo (N = 20). Therapy given for 4 weeks before surgery. After surgery, statin prescription dealt with by primary care (communication from authors), so duration unclear but likely to have lasted at least 48 hours.
Outcomes	Primary outcome: level of MMP‐9 in aortic wall. Secondary outcome: levels of MMP‐2, MMP‐8 and other enzymes in arterial wall. Length of stay reported in Table.
Funding sources	No statement about funding sources.
Duration of statin use before surgery	Four weeks before surgery.
Notes	Additional information obtained from authors 28/9/12.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	"Computer‐generated sequence, with a subgroup size of 4".
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Carried out by pharmacy.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) Length of stay	Low risk	Paper and personal communication report that study was double‐blind; thus neither participants nor staff members were aware of allocation. Placebo tablets were identical in shape and colour (but were possibly missing numbers and letters).
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) Length of stay	Low risk	Personal communication from authors. The clinical team (including physiotherapists) assessed fitness for discharge. No formal criteria but that participant was "generally independent and safe". Clinical team unaware of allocation.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	All participants included in analyses. No details of loss to follow‐up but all outcomes during hospital stay.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	All outcomes reported.
Other bias	Low risk	Baseline characteristics and type of operation similar in both groups.