| Reference | Wilson et al3 | Thomas et al2 | Vincent et al26 | Davis et al24 | Baker et al31 | Median percentage (interquartile range) |
| No. of adverse event/total no. of records | 2353/14 179 | 475/14 700 | 119/1 014 | 850/6 579 | 289/3 745 | – |
| Surgical | 1375 (58.4) | 298 (62.7) | 94 (79.0) | 489 (57.5) | 149 (51.4) | 58.4 (54.5 to 70.9) |
| Surgery not otherwise specified | – | 219 (46.1) | – | – | – | – |
| General surgery | 317 (13.5) | – | 47 (39.5) | – | – | 26.5 (13.5 to 39.5) |
| Orthopaedic surgery | 285 (12.1) | – | 40 (33.6) | – | – | 22.9 (12.1 to 33.6) |
| Obstetrics | 140 (5.9) | 44 (9.2) | 7 (5.9) | – | – | 5.9 (5.9 to 9.2) |
| Gynaecology | 134 (5.7) | 32 (6.7) | – | – | – | 6.2 (5.7 to 6.7) |
| Urology | 86 (3.7) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Cardiac surgery | 77 (3.3) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Vascular surgery | 71 (3.0) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Otorhinolaryngology | 59 (2.5) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Neurosurgery | 57 (2.4) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Colorectal surgery | 53 (2.3) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Plastic surgery | 49 (2.1) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Anaesthesiology | 47 (2.0) | 3 (0.7) | – | – | – | 1.4 (0.7 to 2.0) |
| Medicine | 385 (16.4) | 114 (24.1) | 25 (21.0) | 303 (35.7) | 130 (45,0) | 24.1 (18.7 to 40.4) |
| Internal medicine | 150 (6.4) | 110 (23.2) | – | – | – | 14.8 (6.4 to 23.2) |
| Cardiology | 118 (5.0) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Paediatrics | 49 (2.1) | 4 (0.9) | – | – | – | 1.5 (0.9 to 2.1) |
| Gastroenterology | 43 (1.8) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Medical oncology | 25 (1.1) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Other | 542 (23.0) | 57 (11.9) | – | 58 (6.8) | 10 (3.6) | 9.4 (4.4 to 20.2) |
| Family practice | 147 (6.2) | 21 (4.4) | – | – | – | 5.3 (4.4 to 6.2) |
| Nursing | 85 (3.6) | 8 (1.7) | – | – | – | 2.7 (1.7 to 3.6) |
| Emergency medicine | 34 (1.4) | 8 (1.7) | – | – | – | 1.6 (1.4 to 1.7) |
| Ophthalmology | 28 (1.2) | – | – | – | – | – |
| Radiology | – | 5 (1) | – | – | – | – |
| Other | 248 (10.5) | 15 (3.1) | – | – | – | 6.8 (3.1 to 10.5) |
| Unknown | 51 (2.2) |
Numbers (percentages) except last column. Interquartile range = 25th to 75th percentile. Wilson: numbers and percentages were given. Thomas: percentages were given, and numbers were calculated. Vincent: numbers were given, and percentages were calculated. Davis: numbers and percentages were given. Baker: numbers were given in a crosstable with type of event. Because AEs could be attributed to more than one type of event, the total was 360. Numbers and percentages in this table were calculated as a percentage of the total number of AEs.