Agarwal 2004b.

Methods	Prospective, double‐blind randomized controlled trial
Participants	Age (years, mean ± SD): Group I = 33.6 ± 14.8, Group II = 34.3 ± 16.2, Group III = 35.5 ± 12.6 Gender (M:F): Group I 15:16, Group II 13:18, Group III 16:15 Inclusion criteria: 18 years to 50 years, ASA I‐II, elective laparoscopic surgery Exclusion criteria: patients having difficulty in communication, anticipated difficulty in intubation or those who could not be intubated at the first attempt. Recruitment: 93 adults randomly assigned (31 in each group) Setting: India
Interventions	Pretreatment alone Group 1 (NS): normal saline Group 2 (L): 2% lidocaine (40 mg) Group 3 (E): ephedrine 30 mcg/kg
Outcomes	Pain intensity assessed on 4‐point scale 0 = no pain 1 = mild pain 2 = moderate pain 3 = severe pain Outcomes reported and used Incidence of high‐intensity pain Incidence of pain Adverse effects Outcomes sought but not reported Patient satisfaction
Notes	Period of the study: dates not reported
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	A computer‐generated table of random numbers
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	N/A
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	"An independent anaesthetist prepared the pretreatment solutions and the investigators were blinded to the contents."
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	"An independent anaesthetist who was unaware of the group to which the patient had been allocated assessed the level of pain."
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	No withdrawals
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	N/A
Other bias	Low risk	This paper seems to be free of other bias