Rastogi 1991

Methods	Parallel‐design RCT conducted in Meerut, India 2 treatment arms: PHT and VPS
Participants	Participants with at least 2 partial or generalised tonic‐clonic seizures per month Unclear if participants were newly diagnosed Number randomised: PHT = 45; VPS = 49 70 male participants (74%) 27 participants with partial epilepsy (29%) Age range: PHT: 12‐42 years; VPS: 8‐52 years
Interventions	Monotherapy with PHT or VPS Average daily dose achieved: PHT: 5.6 mg/kg/d, VPS: 18.8 mg/kg/d Participants were evaluated after 4, 12 and 24 weeks of treatment No information on range of follow‐up
Outcomes	Reduction in frequency of seizures: excellent (100% reduction); good (75%‐99% reduction); fair (50%‐74% reduction); poor (< 50% reduction) Adverse effects Seizure control
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	Participants "randomly allocated irrespective of seizure type," no further information provided
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No information provided
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	Unclear risk	Frequency of seizures reported for all randomised participants, no information provided on withdrawal rates/attrition rates etc
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Frequency of seizures during treatment well reported, most common adverse events reported No protocol available to compare with a priori analysis plan, outcomes for this review not reported
Other bias	Low risk	None identified