Simeone 2002.

Methods	Parallel‐group randomized controlled trial, conducted in Italy. Study conducted from February 1999 to November 1999
Participants	49 elective coronary artery bypass graft, aortic or mitral valve surgery patients
Interventions	Early extubation (weaning protocol with aim of extubation within 9 hours after surgery) in 24 participants Usual care (weaning according to physicians' subjective clinical judgement) in 25 participants Physicians decided when to extubate.
Outcomes	Risk of tracheal reintubation Risk of stroke (e.g. aphasia, right side paralysis) Risk of major bleeding Risk of acute renal failure Time to extubation Length of stay in the ICU
Notes	Weaning protocol was the same in both groups, but timing was different, as described in the paper. No power calculation was done. No details about the funding source were given. Details of any declarations of conflict of interest among study authors were not provided.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No details given
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No details given
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	No details given
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	No participants withdrew from the study.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	All outcomes collected and reported
Other bias	Low risk	Preoperative risk score, participants' characteristics, surgical time, illness severity score (APACHE II and III) and preoperative respiratory parameters were comparable between groups.