APN 1981.

Study characteristics
Methods	Study design Parallel RCT Time frame: not reported Duration of follow‐up: 12 months Country: Germany and Switzerland Setting: multicentre (11 sites)
Participants	Study characteristics Inclusion criteria: children with FRNS Exclusion criteria: not reported Baseline characteristics Number (analysed/randomised): intervention group 1 (23/30); intervention group 2 (25/34) Mean age ± SD (months): intervention group 1 (88.5 ± 33.0); intervention group 2 (101.3 ± 35.1) Sex (M/F): intervention group 1 (15/8); intervention group 2 (18/7)
Interventions	Intervention group 1 (alternate) Prednisone: 60 mg/m2/day till protein free for 3+ days; then 35 mg/m2 on alternate days Total duration: 6 months Intervention group 2 Prednisone: 60 mg/m2/day till protein free for 3+ days; then 40 mg/m2 given on 3/7 consecutive days Total duration: 6 months
Outcomes	Outcomes relevant to this review Number relapsing during 6 months of therapy and in subsequent 6 months Mean relapse rate during treatment and in subsequent 6 months
Notes	Additional information Definitions FRNS: 2+ relapses within 6 months of first response or 4 relapses in any 1 year (ISKDC definition) Relapse: urine protein > 40 mg/m2/h for 3 consecutive days (ISKDC) Remission: urinary protein < 4 mg/m2/h for 3 consecutive days (ISKDC) Funding source: supported by grants from the VW Foundation
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Insufficient information about sequence generation to permit judgement
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Sealed envelopes provided to each centre QUOTE: "One opened when patient qualified to enter the study"
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Blinding not mentioned and the outcome is likely to be influenced by lack of blinding
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Blinding of outcome assessment not mentioned and outcome measurement likely to be influenced by lack of blinding
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	16/64 withdrawn: steroid toxicity (8); incorrect treatment or uncooperative parents (6); late non‐response (1); one patient unaccounted for in the text
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Recorded the review's pre‐specified outcomes (number with relapse, frequency of relapses, adverse events)
Other bias	Low risk	Supported by grants from the VW Foundation