Gordon 1993.

Study characteristics
Methods	Cross‐over trial of clomipramine, desipramine, and placebo
Participants	Inclusion criteria: meet the DSM‐III‐R and ADI criteria for ASD free of significant medical problems, including seizures free of psychotropic medications for at least 3 months prior to the study Exclusion criteria: significant medical problems, including seizures, by history, physical examination, and laboratory examination used psychoactive medications during the 3 months prior to the study. Location/setting: outpatient clinic, USA Sample size: 24 in total (cross‐over) Number of withdrawals/dropouts: 1 in clomipramine group and 1 other dropout although group was not specified. Gender: 15/24 male Age range: 6‐18 years IQ range: 30‐107 Baseline ABC‐I or other BoC: not reported Concomitant medications: not reported History of previous medications: not reported
Interventions	Intervention 1 (clomipramine) for 5 weeks: mean final dose was 152 mg/day (SD 56), 4.3 mg/kg/day (SD 0.8). The initial dosage was 25 mg/day, and titrated to a maximum of 5 mg/kg per day or 250 mg/day usually between weeks 2 and 3 Intervention 2 (desipramine) for 5 weeks: mean final dose was 127 mg/day (SD 52). 4.0 mg/kg/day (SD 1.2). The initial dosage was 25 mg/day, titrated to a maximum of 5 mg/kg per day or 250 mg/day usually between weeks 2 and 3 Comparator (placebo) for 5 weeks: equivalent placebo
Outcomes	Primary outcomes: AEs Secondary outcomes: none reported Timing of outcome assessment: week 5 (endpoint)
Notes	Study start date: not reported Study end date: not reported Source of funding: not reported Conflicts of interest: none declared
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Quote: "randomisation was performed by the National Institutes of Health pharmacy using a random‐number table".
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Details not provided
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Details of blinding were not provided.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Details not provided
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	LTFU: clomipramine/desipramine 2; 1 in the clomipramine/ desipramine group because of violent outbursts and 1 because the group home administered his medicine to the wrong participant.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Outcomes that were mentioned in the paper were reported. No protocol was available.
Other bias	Unclear risk	No baseline comparisons were reported by group.