Berggren 1987.

Methods	Design: Randomised trial of epidural and general anaesthesia in patients operated on for fracture neck of femur Date of study: March 1983 to November 1984 Power calculation: No Frequency of outcomes assessment: First and seventh day postoperatively Inclusion criteria: All fully lucid, consenting patients admitted to an orthopaedic unit for fracture neck of femur Exclusion criteria: Score more than 6/36 on 12 item disorientation sub‐scale of Organic Brain Syndrome (OBS) assessed within 3 hours of admission
Participants	Number in study: 57 Country: Sweden Setting: Orthopaedic ward of one university hospital Age mean years (SD): Epidural 78(8), General 77(7) Sex M:F: Epidural 4/24, General 7/22 Co‐morbidity: No significant differences between groups (Chi2 test) for ischaemic heart disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular disease, respiratory disease, depression, parkinsonism or sensory impairment Dementia: Not mentioned specifically but would in effect be excluded by exclusion criteria
Interventions	Intervention: Epidural anaesthesia Comparison: Halothane anaesthesia
Outcomes	1. Incident delirium measured using a modified version of the Organic Brain Syndrome Scale on postoperative days 1 and 7 2. Length of admission (data not fully reported) 3. Physical morbidity (stroke, urinary tract infection) 4. Psychological morbidity (depression) 5. Pressure ulcers
Notes	Funding source: Swedish Medical Council; King Gustav V Birthday Foundation; Umea University Research Foundation Declarations of interest: Not reported Delirium not excluded at enrolment No data presented for length of admission but reported as no difference between the two groups
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Allocation concealment method not described
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Method for random sequence generation not described
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Participants and personnel not blinded
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Assessors did not know allocation of participants at time of testing for delirium
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	All participants included in outcome reporting
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	High risk	Reported outcomes which were not pre‐specified in the methods
Other bias	Low risk	No evidence of other bias