Depew 1980.

Methods	Randomised clinical trial
Participants	Country: USA. Number randomised: 28. Post‐randomisation dropouts: 0 (0%). Revised sample size: 28. Average age: 49 years. Females: 12 (42.9%). Inclusion criteria: 1. Alcohol abusers. 2. Clinical diagnosis of severe acute alcoholic hepatitis manifested by hepatomegaly, leucocytosis and a serum bilirubin greater than 5 mg/dL. 3. Spontaneous hepatic encephalopathy in the absence of gastrointestinal haemorrhage, sedation, diuretic usage, or major electrolyte disturbances. Exclusion criteria: 1. Severe diabetes. 2. Active tuberculosis. 3. Serious bacterial infection.
Interventions	Participants were randomly assigned to two groups. Group 1 (n = 15): glucocorticosteroids (prednisolone 40 mg once daily). Group 2 (n = 13): placebo. Duration: 28 days followed by tapered withdrawal over the ensuing 14 days
Outcomes	mortality, adverse events, decompensated cirrhosis.
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Quote: "all patients fulfilling the criteria who gave informed consent were randomised into two treatment protocols". Comment: Further details were not available.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Comment: this information was not available.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Quote: "neither the principal investigator nor the physicians attending the patients were aware of the identity of the coded drugs".
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Comment: Further details were not available.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Comment: there were no post‐randomisation dropouts.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Comment: all important outcomes were reported.
For‐profit bias	Unclear risk	Comment: this information was not available.
Other bias	Low risk	Comment: there was no other bias.