Hébert 1995.

Methods	Randomised controlled trial
Participants	69 normovolaemic critically ill participants admitted to 1 of 5 tertiary level intensive care units with Hb values < 9.0 g/dL within 72 hours of admission were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: Liberal group: n = 36; M/F = 19/17; mean (SD) age = 59 (21) years Restrictive group: n = 33; M/F = 14/19; mean (SD) age = 58 (15) years
Interventions	The liberal group were transfused RBC if the Hb level fell to between 10.0 g/dL to 10.5 g/dL. A Hb level was maintained at between 10.0 g/dL to 12.0 g/dL. The restrictive group were transfused RBC if the Hb level fell to between 7.0 g/dL to 7.5 g/dL. A Hb level was maintained at between 7.0 g/dL to 9.0 g/dL.
Outcomes	Mortality, length of hospital stay, length of ICU stay, blood usage (units), complications, Hb levels
Notes	‐
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Participants were assigned to 1 of 2 groups by consecutive allocation from a random listing stratified by centre and disease severity.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	The trial reported no information regarding this domain.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Blinding of treatment allocation was not feasible, but it was unlikely to have been important.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Blinding of outcome assessment was not specified.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	No attrition bias was apparent.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	No reporting bias was apparent.
Other bias	Low risk	No other biases were apparent.