Review and primary study quality.

Bold: selection for inclusion in synthesis and pooled analysis; PEDro: Physiotherapy Evidence Database critical appraisal tool out of 11 (best); Jadad score out of 5 (best); Newcastle-Ottawa scale out of 9 (best); Levels of Evidence score range 1a (best)-6 (worst); AMSTAR score out of 11 (best); Other: authors own criteria; CABG: Coronary Artery Bypass Graft;*includes synthesis within five surgery types (obstetrics and gynaecology, general, emergency, head and neck and vascular) for infection; blank indicates it was not possible to extract this data from the review.