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. 2017 May 17;2017(5):CD004767. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004767.pub4

Coloe Dosal 2014.

Methods Randomised controlled trial
Participants 32 children, 5 to 10 years of age, recruited in local paediatricians' offices, university clinics and through mass emails to university students and staff, North Carolina, USA
Interventions Cantharidin collodion 0.7% versus vehicle collodion for approximately 8 weeks
Outcomes Complete clearance, lesion counts, adverse effects, approximately 8 weeks after start of treatment
Notes Funding: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Risk of bias
Bias Authors' judgement Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias) Low risk "Randomization schedule was prepared before first recruitment using permuted blocks of size 2"
Allocation concealment (selection bias) Low risk After eligibility was assessed, study personnel "assigned the next unique subject identification number and dispensed the appropriate drug"
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) 
 All outcomes Low risk "Patients, parents and investigators were blinded to treatment assignment" and "placebo was identical in texture and smell"
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) 
 All outcomes Low risk "Patients, parents and investigators were blinded to treatment assignment" and "placebo was identical in texture and smell"
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) 
 Short‐term outcomes (up to 3 months) Low risk 2 participants dropped out immediately after randomisation because they did not meet all eligibility criteria (< 20%).
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) 
 Medium‐ and long‐term outcomes (3‐6 months and longer) Unclear risk No long‐term data
Selective reporting (reporting bias) Low risk Reported outcomes similar to those in trial register resume.
Other bias Unclear risk Imbalance in dry skin. Allocation bias was due to dropout.