Asgharnia 2002.

Methods	RCT.
Participants	120 pregnant women. Inclusion criteria: pregnant women with intact membranes and preterm labour, with cervical dilatation of at least 2 cm. Exclusion criteria: premature rupture of membranes, GA < 24 or > 32 weeks, complete cervical dilatation, severe haemorrhage, chorioamnionitis and triple or higher order gestation. Setting: Gilan University, Iran.
Interventions	MAGNESIUM VS PROSTAGLANDIN INHIBITORS 1) magnesium sulphate, loading dose 4 g IV followed by 2 g/hr until uterine activity diminished (assume n = 60); 2) indomethacin, 25 mg every 6 hrs for 4 doses (assume n = 60).
Outcomes	Delay in birth (24 and 48 hrs); maternal complications.
Notes	Antenatal corticosteroid use: not stated. Surfactant use: not stated. Sample‐size calculation: not stated. Funding: not stated.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	"randomly managed" ‐ no further details given.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	"randomly managed" ‐ no further details given.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Not reported but not likely to have been feasible.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Not reported.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Not reported.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	High risk	Numbers of women in each group were not reported; the only outcomes reported were delay in birth at 24 and 48 hrs; and complications (reported only that there were none but individual complications were not listed).
Other bias	Low risk	Similar baseline characteristics.