Ramsey 1983

Methods	Randomised, 'two compartment' parallel trial, conducted in the USA 2 treatment arms: CBZ and PHT
Participants	Adults, previously untreated, with at least 2 seizures or at least 1 seizure and an EEG with paroxysmal features Number randomised: PHT = 45, CBZ = 42 60 male participants (69%) 55 participants with partial epilepsy (63%) Mean age (range) 37.4 (18‐77) years
Interventions	Monotherapy with PHT or CBZ Mean daily dose achieved (for the 54 participants with no major side effects): PHT = 5.35 mg/kg/d, CBZ = 9.32 mg/kg/d Trial duration: 2 years. Range of follow‐up not reported
Outcomes	Laboratory measures Side effects (major and minor) Seizure control/treatment failure
Notes	7 participants on CBZ and 10 participants on PHT were “dropped for non‐compliance” and excluded from analysis 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	Participants randomly assigned to treatment groups, method of randomisation not stated
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No information provided
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Double‐blind (participants and personnel) achieved with additional blank tablet
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Unclear if outcome assessors were blinded
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	17/87 (19.5%) of participants excluded from analysis for "non‐compliance". Results presented only for participants who completed the trial
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	All efficacy and tolerability outcomes specified in the methods sections reported well in the results section. No protocol available. Outcomes chosen for this review were not reported
Other bias	Low risk	None identified