Sur 2005

Methods	RCT Length of follow‐up: 12 months
Participants	All children living in endemic area Number analysed for primary outcome: 683 Age range: 2 to 5 years Inclusion criteria: all children aged 2 to 5 in slum area of Tiljala identified and enrolled Exclusion criteria: major illnesses; birth defects; and unwillingness to participate
Interventions	Multiple doses vs placebo Albendazole: 400 mg in a vitamin B complex base liquid; repeated at 6 months; Placebo: vitamin B complex base.
Outcomes	Mean weight post‐treatment (presented graphically). Other outcomes measured but not reported: stool samples from random sample of 30% (formalin concentration technique) for prevalence of Ascaris; weight‐for‐age; diarrhoeal episodes
Notes	Location: India Community category: 2 Source of funding: Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Computer‐generated random numbers sequence.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Identical coded bottles.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Participants and key personnel were blinded.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	97% (683/702) of enrolled participants were evaluated. Inclusion of all randomized participants (number evaluable/number randomized): 97% (683/702).
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	High risk	Incomplete reporting of some outcomes (prevalence of Ascaris in stools; weight‐for‐age; diarrhoeal episodes).
Other bias	Low risk	No obvious other source of bias.