Table 2.

 Methodological aspects of included trials on effect of selective oropharyngeal decontamination (SOD) for prevention of death in adults in intensive care

	Adequate sequence generation	Allocation concealment	Blinding	Outcome prespecified	Incomplete outcome data addressed	Other bias
Bergmans44	Unclear	Yes	Yes	Mortality defined secondary endpoint. Mortality reported	226/245 patients analysed	—
De Smet19	Yes	Yes	No	Study powered for mortality. Mortality reported	Adjusted 28 day mortality used: 1979/1990 in standard care; 1886/1904 in SOD	Statistical correction of baseline differences discussed
Pugin45	Unclear	Yes*12	Yes	Per protocol mortality reported in published paper	Intention to treat analysis possible from previous communication with authors*12	—
Rios46	Unclear	Unclear	Yes	Per protocol mortality reported in published paper	96/116 patients analysed	Published only in abstract form

*Information taken from Cochrane¹² or Chan¹³ after their correspondence with authors.