Patient demographic characteristics
| Characteristic | ABTHERA n=84* (mean±SD) | Whipstitch closure n=55* (mean±SD) | P value |
| Age | 40.6±17.9 | 41.5±19.0 | 0.782 |
| Sex (male), n (%) | 67 (81.7) | 45 (81.8) | 0.987 |
| BMI | 30.5±6.9 | 30.0±6.1 | 0.669 |
| ISS | 27.5±12.4 | 27.5±12.0 | 0.666 |
| ASA | 3.9±1.0 | 3.8±1.0 | 0.839 |
| Duration of TAC placement (hours)† | 95.3 (319.6) | 30.45 (28.9) | <0.001 |
| Mechanism of injury (%) | 0.687 | ||
| Penetrating | 17 (20.2) | 13 (23.6) | |
| Blunt | 65 (77.4) | 42 (76.4) | |
| Number of laparotomies | 4.3±2.9 | 3.5±2.3 | 0.090 |
| Indication for using TAC in first OA | |||
| Diffuse ooze that was packed | 20 (23.8)a | 27 (49.1) | <0.001 |
| Questionable intestinal viability/intestinal anastomosis/delayed anastomosis and wanted a second look | 19 (22.6)a | 19 (22.6)a | |
| Inability to approximate fascia due to edema | 19 (22.6)b | 0 | |
| Patient was unstable | 22 (26.2)a | 12 (21.8) | |
| Poor prognosis, not expected to survive | 2 (2.4)a | 4 (7.3) |
Values with different superscripts in a row are significantly different using post-hoc comparisons with Holm-Bonferroni correction.
*n denotes each application of TAC as a separate event.
†Non-parametric test summarized as median±IQR.
ASA, American Society of Anesthesiologists; BMI, body mass index; ISS, Injury Severity Score; OA, open abdomen; TAC, temporary abdominal closure.