Bories 1987.

Methods	Randomised controlled trial Country: France Dates: 1979–1982 Intention‐to‐treat analysis: yes Sample size calculation: not reported.
Participants	Demographic characteristics Age (mean): prednisolone group: 41 years (range 26 to 68 years); control group: 49 years (range 30 to 70 years) Sex: prednisolone group: 16 men and 8 women; control group: 11 men and 10 women Inclusion criteria and degree of severity Not stated clearly, but mean level of bilirubin ≥ 147 (SD 30.78) mmol/L Alcohol consumption: men: 155 (SD 46) g/day; women: 140 (SD 32) g/day Exclusion criteria 48 excluded due to infections (n = 45), diabetes (n = 2), and tuberculosis (n = 1) Randomisation procedure Random number table Number of participants randomised: 45 Prednisolone group: n = 24 Control group: n = 21
Interventions	Experimental group: oral prednisolone 40 mg/day Control group: no intervention Additional interventions to the trial groups: 1500 calories and protein 50 g/day. Encephalopathy treated with lactulose and neomycin. In case of infection, participants received antibiotics. Duration of treatment: 1 month Duration of follow‐up: 3 months after randomisation
Outcomes	Mortality Liver histology Adverse events
Notes	Letter sent to authors in March 2000. No answer received
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Quote: "By random number table."
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not described
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Not blinded
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	No information
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	No dropouts
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	No protocol available. However, all‐cause mortality, serious adverse events, and liver‐related mortality were reported.
Other bias	Low risk	None suspected