few complications were observed. In the study group, one
participant had a urinary tract infection and five were
constipated, while in the control group, two participants
had pneumonia and eight experienced constipation. In total,
the number of complications was larger for the control group
(n = 10) than for the study group (n = 6); however, the
overall numbers were small and preclude us from inferring
from this material that the mobilisation resulted in fewer
complications compared to immobilisation.
Because their efficacy may have been different, treatments
should also be compared to the number of new bleeding
episodes. We analysed whether specific treatment modalities
had any relationship to renewed bleeding episodes, but for
most categories, the numbers were too small for statistical
analysis. We were, however, able to determine that the risk of
new bleeding was 74% less for cauterised participants than
for participants given other treatments (Table 5). The overall
estimated odds ratio and confidence interval of cauterisation