3. Basic characteristics.

Author	Year	Intervention	Comparison	Application	Treatment duration	Follow‐up	N	Internally‐controlled study	Primary outcome	Secondary outcome	Level of evidence
Topical therapy
Baran	1999	Topical 8% clobetasol	Placebo lacquer	Once daily	1, 2 to 6, 6 months, average 2, 5 months	No	18	Yes	1	3	B
Baran	1999a	Topical 8% clobetasol	Placebo lacquer	1st week once daily, onwards 2 or 3 times weekly	5,1 to 8, 9 months, average 7, 0 months	No	27	Yes	1	3	B
Cannavo	2003	Topical ciclosporin 70% in maize oil	Maisoil	Twice daily	12 weeks (3 months)	8 weeks	16	No	1, 3	1, 2, 3	A2
de Jong	1999	1% 5‐fluorouracil in Belanyx® lotion	Belanyx® lotion	Once daily, under occlusion	12 weeks (3 months)	4 weeks	57	Yes	1, 2, 3	1, 3	A2
Flori	1994	Hyaluronic acid + chondroitin sulphates	Placebo	Gel in the morning, micro emulsion at night	90 days (3 months)	No	30	No	1	1, 3	A2/B
Rigopoulos	2007	Tazarotene 0.1% cream	Clobetasol propionate 0.05%	Once daily under occlusion	12 weeks (3 months)	12 weeks	46	No	2	1, 3	A2
Scher	2001	Tazarotene 0.1% gel	Vehicle gel	Once daily, one target nail under occlusion	24 weeks (6 months)	No	31	No	1	1, 3	A2/B
Tosti	1998	Calcipotriol 50 ug/g	Betamethason dipropionate 64 mg/g + salicylic acid 0.03 g/g	Twice daily	3 to 5 months	1 month	58	No	3	1, 3	B
Tzung	2008	Calcipotriol 0.005%	Calcipotriol 0.005% + betamethasone dipropionate 0.05%	Calcipotriol twice daily with betamethasone once daily	12 weeks (3 months)	No	40	No	1, 2, 3	1, 3	B
Systemic therapy
Gűműşel	2011	Methotrexate 15 mg	Ciclosporin 5 mg/kg	MTX: single dose weekly subcutaneous. After 3 months decrease to 10 mg/week CsA: daily (divided into 2 doses), after 3 months decrease to 2.5 to 3.5 mg/kg/day	24 weeks	12 weeks	37	No	1 ,2, 3	1	A2
Levell	1995	Systemic ciclosporin 2.5 mg/kg	Topical dithranol 2% to 8% + 0.5% salicylic acid + UVB	CsA: 2 daily doses. Dith: once daily for 15 minutes preceded by UVB	Up to 16 weeks (4 months) until clear	Up to 8 months	29	No	1	1	A2/B
Mahrle	1995	Systemic ciclosporin 2.5 mg/kg	Etretinate 0.5 mg/kg	Once daily	22 weeks (5, 5 months)	4 weeks	137	No	1	1	B
Biological therapy
Igarashi	2012	Ustekinumab 45 mg or 90 mg	Placebo	Subcutaneous injection week 0, 4, every 12 weeks	64 weeks	8 weeks	102	No	2	1	A2
Kavanaugh	2009	Golimumab 50 mg or 100 mg	Placebo	Subcutaneous injection every 4 weeks	20 weeks (5 months)	4 weeks	287	No	1, 2	1	B
Rich	2008	Infliximab 5 mg/kg	Placebo	Infusion at week 0, 2, 6 and every 8 weeks onward	46 weeks (11, 5 months)	4 weeks	305	No	2	1, 3	A2
Radiotherapy
Kwang	1995	Electron beam 0.75 Gy	Placebo	0.75 Gy per week (total 6 Gy)	8 weeks (2 months)	12 months	12	Yes	1	1, 3	B
Lindelof	1989	Grenz rays 5Gy	Placebo	5 Gy once a week	10 weeks (2, 5 months)	6 months	24	Yes	1	1	A2/B
Yu	1992	Superficial radiotherapy 450 cGy	'Sham radiotherapy'	Fortnightly	14 days (1/2 month)	18 weeks	10	Yes	1	1, 3	B

Primary outcomes

(a) Global improvement of nail psoriasis as rated by a clinician 
 (b) Improvement of nail psoriasis scores (NAS, NAPSI) 
 (c) Improvement of nail psoriasis in the participant's opinion 

Secondary outcomes

(a) Adverse effects (and serious adverse effects, i.e. serious enough to require withdrawal of the treatment) 
 (b) Effects on quality of life 
 (c) Improvement in nail features, pain score, nail thickness, thickness of subungual hyperkeratosis, number of affected nails, and nail growth

Level of evidence

A2: Randomised controlled trial of good quality (adequate control group, good study design, size of the study, consistence) 
 B: Randomised clinical trial of low quality