Theodossi 1982.

Methods	Randomised clinical trial
Participants	Country: UK. Number randomised: 60. Post‐randomisation dropouts: 5 (8.3%). Revised sample size: 55. Average age: not stated Females: 24 (43.6%). Inclusion criteria: 1. History of alcohol intake of 80 g or more daily for at least 5 years. 2. Serum bilirubin concentration greater than 80 μmol/L. 3. Serum aspartate transferase at least twice the upper limit of normal. 4. Prothrombin time prolonged by at least nine seconds. Exclusion criteria: 1. Hepatoma. 2. Recent myocardial infarction. 3. Accompanying cerebrovascular accident including evidence of subdural haematoma. 4. Active tuberculosis.
Interventions	Participants were randomly assigned to two groups. Group 1 (n = 27): glucocorticosteroids (methylprednisolone 1 g intravenous daily). Group 2 (n = 28): no intervention. Duration: 3 days
Outcomes	mortality, adverse events.
Notes	Reasons for post‐randomisation dropouts: group 1: 1, Group 2: 4 (previous steroids, doubtful diagnosis).
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Quote: "patients were allocated by random sealed envelope". Comment: Further details were not available.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Quote: "random sealed envelopes".
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Quote: "patients were allocated to a control or treatment group".
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Comment: this information was not available.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	Quote: "5 patients were not included in the analysis". Comment: there were 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.