Zhao 2014.

Study characteristics
Methods	Accrual: April 2006 to February 2014 Single centre Phase of trial: not reported Trial design: RCT, no further details provided Country where the trial was conducted: China Follow‐up: not reported
Participants	Age: median 52 years Nodal status of breast cancer: 83% node positive, 17% node negative Adjuvant or neoadjuvant: neoadjuvant BRCA mutation: not reported Notable exclusion criteria: none
Interventions	Arm 1: paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 day 1, carboplatin AUC5 day 2, every 3 weeks for 2 cycles Arm 2: epirubicin 75 mg/m2 day 1, paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 day 2, every 3 weeks for 2 cycles
Outcomes	Outcomes listed in trial publication (not split by primary or secondary outcomes) pCR Clinical complete remission Adverse events (graded) but name of scale was not provided
Notes	Trial registration record could not be identified. Study authors did not appear to have analysed results based on the number of participants randomised (i.e. 2 participants were excluded from analysis with reasons not provided). Funding considerations: not collected.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Quote: "Patients … were randomly assigned to …" Method to generate random sequence was not described.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Method of concealment was not reported in the journal publication.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	No information relating to blinding of participants or personnel was provided in the journal publication.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias): toxicity	Unclear risk	No details were provided relating to blinding of outcome assessment for toxicities.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias): neoadjuvant studies only: pCR	Unclear risk	No details were provided relating to blinding of outcome assessment for pCR.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Outcomes described in the methods section in the trial publication were reported. We did not identify a trial record to cross‐check outcome reporting.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	2 participants in the 1 treatment arm dropped out with no details provided. They were not included in the analysis. No CONSORT diagram was provided.
Other bias	Unclear risk	Some translated material but insufficient detail to rule out any other bias.