Callaghan 1985

Methods	Parallel study design, outpatient setting Study conducted in Eire (Republic of Ireland) Randomisation based on two Latin squares and the preference of drug for the participant An independent person selected “drug of first preference” from randomisation list
Participants	Adults and children with a minimum of 2 untreated generalised or partial seizures in the 6 months preceding the trial Number randomised: PHT = 58; SV = 64 48 participants (39%) with partial epilepsy. 67 (55%) men Age range: 5‐71. Duration of treatment (range in months):3‐48
Interventions	Monotherapy with PHT or SV Mean daily dose achieved: PHT: 5.4 mg/kg; SV: 15.6 mg/kg
Outcomes	Seizure control: excellent (complete freedom of seizures) good (> 50% reduction in seizure frequency) poor (< 50% reduction in seizure frequency)
Notes	Outcomes chosen for this review were not reported. IPD not available
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Randomisation based on 2 Latin Squares without stratification. The first, second and third preference of drug for the participant appears to have been taken into account in the process. Unclear if assignment was completely random
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	High risk	An independent person (department secretary) selected the “drug of first preference” from randomisation list on a sequential basis. Allocation not adequately concealed
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	No information provided
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	No information provided
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Attirition rates reported. ITT approach taken, all randomised participants analysed
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Primary outcomes (seizure control) and secondary outcomes (side effects) reported sufficiently. No protocol available, outcomes for this review not reported
Other bias	Low risk	No other bias detected