Table 2.

 Characteristics of randomised controlled trials of antispasmodics versus placebo or no treatment in irritable bowel syndrome

Study	Country	Setting	Diagnostic criteria for irritable bowel syndrome	Criteria to define symptom improvement after therapy	Sample size	Antispasmodic and dose	Duration of therapy	Jadad score
Levy 1977w22	France	Secondary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Improvement in global symptoms (unclear whether patient reported)	50	Pinaverium 50 mg three times daily	15 days	3
Moshal 1979w15	South Africa	Tertiary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Patient reported improvement in abdominal pain	20	Trimebutine 200 mg three times daily	4 weeks	4
Piai 1979w19	Italy	Tertiary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Physician reported improvement in global symptoms	18	Prifinium bromide 30 mg three times daily	3 weeks	4
Ritchie 1979w33	England	Tertiary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Patient reported improvement in global symptoms (doctor required to agree)	24	Hyoscine 10 mg four times daily	3 months	4
D’Arienzo 1980w23	Italy	Tertiary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Patient reported improvement in global symptoms	28	Otilonium 20 mg three times daily	4 weeks	3
Fielding 1980w20	Ireland	Secondary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Physician reported improvement in global symptoms	60	Trimebutine 200 mg three times daily	6 months	3
Delmont 1981w27	France	Secondary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Physician reported improvement in global symptoms	60	Pinaverium (dose unclear) one tablet three times daily	30 days	4
Page 1981w21	Unclear	Primary and secondary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Patient reported improvement in global symptoms	97	Dicycloverine (dicyclomine) 40 mg four times daily	2 weeks	4
Baldi 1983w25	Italy	Secondary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Decrease in patient reported abdominal pain score	30	Otilonium 40 mg three times daily	4 weeks	4
Nigam 1984w35	India	Secondary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Patient reported improvement in global symptoms (doctor required to agree)	42	Hyoscine (dose unclear)	12 weeks	3
Ghidini 1986w14	Italy	Secondary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Patient reported efficacy of treatment	90	Trimebutine 100 mg three times daily or rociverine 20 mg three times daily	60 days	3
Kruis 1986w34	Germany	Tertiary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Patient reported improvement in global symptoms	80	Mebeverine 100 mg four times daily	16 weeks	4
Virat 1987w24	France	Secondary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Patient reported improvement in global symptoms	78	Pinaverium 50 mg three times daily	1 week	2
Centonze 1988w11	Italy	Tertiary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Patient reported improvement in global symptoms	48	Cimetropium 50 mg three times daily	6 months	4
Gilvarry 1989w17	Ireland	Secondary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Doctor reported improvement in global symptoms	24	Pirenzipine 50 mg twice daily	4 weeks	4
Passaretti 1989w13	Italy	Tertiary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Patient reported improvement in global symptoms	40	Cimetropium 50 mg three times daily	1 month	4
Dobrilla 1990w12	Italy	Secondary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Patient reported improvement in global symptoms	70	Cimetropium 50 mg three times daily	3 months	4
Schafer 1990w10	Germany	Primary and secondary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Improvement in global symptoms assessed by diary cards	360	Hyoscine 10 mg three times daily	4 weeks	3
Castiglione 1991w26	Italy	Tertiary care	Clinical diagnosis	Improvement in global symptoms (unclear whether patient reported)	60	Otilonium (dose and number of tablets unclear)	1 month	2
Pulpeiro 2000w28	Argentina	Tertiary care	Clinical diagnosis and investigations	Patient reported improvement in global symptoms	75	Propinox (dose and number of tablets unclear)	4 weeks	3
Glende 2002w16	Italy	Secondary and tertiary care	Rome I criteria	Decrease in patient reported symptoms (evaluated on a 4 point ordinal scale) of one unit in at least one symptom for at least two weeks	317	Otilonium 40 mg three times daily	15 weeks	3
Mitchell 2002w18	UK	Secondary and tertiary care	Rome II criteria and investigations	Improvement in wellbeing from validated diary cards	107	Alverine 120 mg three times daily	12 weeks	5