Table 1.

Characteristics of included trials within the network meta-analysis

Author, year	Country	Study period	Study design	Follow-up	Comparison	Size	Age, mean ± SD	Gender, male, n (%)
Ke, L., 2021 [48]	China	2018–2019	Prospective, single-center, randomized controlled trial	90 Days	ED	15	38 ± 18	11 (73.3%)
					DD	15	40 ± 16	9 (60%)
Boxhoorn, L.,2021 [47]	Netherlands	2015–2019	Prospective, multicenter, randomized, controlled superiority trial	3 Months/6 months	ED	55	60 ± 14	32 (58%)
					DD	49	59 ± 11	32 (65%)
Bang, J., 2019 [46]	The USA	2014–2017	Prospective, single-center, randomized trial	6 Weeks/6 months	ES	32	52.9 ± 14.2	21 (65.6%)
					EEU	34	55.6 ± 14.2	22 (64.7%)
van Brunschot, 2018 [45]	Netherlands	2011–2015	Prospective, multicenter randomized, superiority trial	3 Months/6 months	DEU	51	63 ± 14	34 (67%)
					DSU	47	60 ± 11	29 (62%)
Bakker, 2012 [44]	Netherlands	2008–2010	Prospective, randomized controlled assessor-blinded clinical trial	3 Months/6 months	DE	10	60 ± 22	8 (80%)
					DS	10	60 ± 19	6 (60%)
van Santvoort, 2010 [43]	Netherlands	2005–2008	Prospective, multicenter randomized controlled superiority trial	3 Months/6 months	DS	45	57.4 ± 2.0	33 (73%)
					DSU	43	57.6 ± 2.1	31 (72%)
Litvin A, 2010 [42]	Belarus	2004–2008	Prospective, multicenter randomized trial	NR	DSU	37	NR	NR
					ES	35	NR	NR
Mier, J., 1997 [41]	Mexico	1990–1993	Prospective, single-center, randomized trial	NR	ES	25	42 ± 16	15 (60%)
					DS	11	42 ± 12	7 (63.6%)
Schröder, T, 1991 [40]	Finland	1984–1988	Prospective, single-center, randomized trial	NR	ES	11	40.5 ± 7.5	10 (90.9%)
					ED	10	35.7 ± 6.8	9 (90%)
Kivilaakso, E, 1984 [39]	Finland	1997–1982	Prospective, single-center, randomized trial	NR	ES	18	38.4 ± 10.2	16 (88.9%)
					ED	17	39.7 ± 10	14 (82.4%)

DD delayed drainage, DE delayed endoscopic debridement, DEU delayed endoscopic step-up approach, DS delayed surgery, DSU delayed surgical step-up approach, ED early drainage, EEU early endoscopic step-up approach, ES early surgery, NR not state, SD standard deviation