Surgical Options for Inguinal Hernia: Comparative Effectiveness Review Executive Summary

s reviewed Full articles reviewed 1,878 articles excluded: 252: Did not address any Key Question 81: Case series 80: Background, commentary, protocol, guideline, or review 79: Nonrandomized study that did not attempt to control for selection bias 18: Abstract only 12: Did not attempt any outcomes of interest 11: Did not focus sufficiently on a patient population of interest 8: Did not report data comparing the procedures 1: Not English language 1: Exact duplicate of other included article 78: Other 621 articles ecluded: Included 223 articles, describing 151 unique studiesa KQ 1 (pain-free hernia): 2 studies KQ 2a (open mesh vs. lap. mesh in primary hernia): 38 studies KQ 2b (open mesh vs. lap. mesh in bilateral hernia): 6 studies KQ 2c (open mesh vs. lap. mesh in recurrent hernia): 8 studies KQ 3 (open mesh vs. open mesh): 21 studies KQ 4 (lap. mesh vs. lap. mesh): 11 studies KQ 5 (comparing meshes): 32 studies KQ 6 (comparing mesh fixation methods): 23 studies KQ 7 (surgical experience and hernia recurrence): 32 studies KQ 8 (pediatric contralateral exploration vs. watchful waiting): 0 studies KQ 9 (pediatric vs. open flap): 2 studies Figure B. Literature flow diagram aThe counts for Key Questions add to more than the number of included studies because some studies were included for multiple Key Questions.