Outcomes
hernia, NRS
RECURRENCE
Primary outcome was length of hospital stay, which was defined as the time until discharge home. Criteria for discharge were that patients had to move normally, tolerate a normal diet, and have a NRS < 5 without the use of opiates. It was upon the discretion of the surgeon whether these criteria were met.Secondary outcomes were QoL, re-operation rates, recurrence rates, and 28 days post-surgery mortality. The SF-36 and Carolina Comfort Scale (CCS) were used as QoL measures. The SF-36 is a validated, wide-spread, generic, frequently used QoL questionnaire covering eight health domains and is available in Dutch [Baseline characteristics were registered at the outpatient clinic. Patient-related factors were age, sex, BMI, ASA-classification, previous abdominal surgeries, co-morbidity, smoking, and family history for abdominal wall hernias. Hernia-related factors were primary or recurrent incisional hernia, meshes in situ, previous radio diagnostics, and the EHS-classification [Due to interest in both short- and long-term outcomes, patients were followed up for 5 years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 on and hospital visiting restrictions for research purposes, patients could not be invited for physical examination at the outpatient clinic. Instead, patients were contacted by telephone and video calling.