| Study | Reason for exclusion |
|---|---|
| Beuers 1998 | Not a RCT (comments on Lindor 1997). |
| Chapman 2005 | Not a RCT. |
| Chapman 2009 | Editorial on Lindor 2009. |
| Eisenburg 1997 | Not an RCT. |
| Fromm 1992 | Comment on a non‐RCT. |
| Goldberg 1992 | Comment on a non‐RCT. |
| Gross 1993 | Comment on a non‐RCT. |
| Harnois 2001 | Not a RCT. |
| Hay 2001 | The study includes transplanted patients. |
| Imam 2011 | Not an RCT. |
| Kuiper 2010 | No separate data for participants with primary sclerosing cholangitis. |
| Kurihara 2003 | Not a RCT. |
| Lankarani 2003 | Not a RCT. |
| Lankarani 2005 | Comment on an included trial (Sterling 2004). |
| Lindor 1995 | Not an RCT. |
| Lindor 2005 | Not a RCT. |
| Lindor 2009a | Review, not a RCT. |
| Mayo 2007 | No separate data for participants with primary sclerosing cholangitis. |
| Silveira 2008 | Not a RCT. |
| Spengler 1993 | Comments on Beuers 1992 and other published experiences. |
| Stiehl 1989a | Not a RCT. |
| Stiehl 1989b | Not a RCT. |
| Stiehl 1994 | Not a RCT. |
| Stiehl 1994a | All participants received the same treatment (UDCA) for 1 year before the randomised period (UDCA and placebo groups). |
| Stiehl 1996 | Review, not a RCT. |
| Tabibian 1989 | Not a RCT. |
| Tada 2006 | Not a RCT. |
| Ter Borg 2004 | No separate data for participants with primary sclerosing cholangitis. |
| Triantos 2012 | Comment on an excluded study (Imam 2011). |
| van de Meeberg 1996 | No separate data for participants with primary sclerosing cholangitis. |
| van Hoogstraten 1998 | No comparison between different treatments: Participants in both arms received the same dose of UDCA once a day or in divided doses. |
| van Hoogstraten 2000 | In this RCT, participants received different types and doses of steroids in combination with UDCA. |
| Van Thiel 1992 | Control group received colchicine or no treatment, and no separate data were available for participants who received no treatment. |
| Villamil 2005 | No separate data for participants with primary sclerosing cholangitis. |
| Vleggaar 2001 | Treatment was not targeted at improving outcomes related to primary sclerosing cholangitis. |
| Vleggaar 2008 | No pharmacological agents were studied. |
| Wagner 1971 | Not a RCT. |
RCT = randomised clinical trial; UDCA = ursodeoxycholic acid