| Methods |
Randomised controlled trial |
| Participants |
Women undergoing IVF cycles |
| Interventions |
0.5 mg of dexamethasone versus placebo |
| Outcomes |
Live birth rate per woman/couple (available for one arm of the study); clinical pregnancy rate per woman/couple |
| Notes |
Live birth data supplied by trial author. 192 women, 97 receiving dexamethasone and 95 receiving placebo. |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
145 patients in experimental and 145 patients in the control group; "Treatments randomized by computer using statistical package ARCUS; sealed envelopes held in the hospital pharmacies were used; Randomization was in blocks of 100; Patients and staff were blinded to the choice" |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Low risk |
"Randomization was in blocks of 100; Patients and staff were blinded to the choice; Tablets (dexamethasone or placebo) were dispensed in identical containers to the patients; Surplus tablets were returned on completion of the stimulation cycle" |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
"Patients and staff were blinded to the choice; Tablets (dexamethasone or placebo) were dispensed in identical containers to the patients; Surplus tablets were returned on completion of the stimulation cycle" |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
"Patients and staff were blinded to the choice; Tablets (dexamethasone or placebo) were dispensed in identical containers to the patients; Surplus tablets were returned on completion of the stimulation cycle" |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
All 290 randomised women included in analysis. However, for live birth, data were only available for one study centre (n = 192) |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Low risk |
No reporting bias detected |
| Other bias |
Low risk |
No other bias detected |
