Sandhu 2003

Methods	RCT, active‐controlled, open label Date of study: not stated Location: multicentric (number not stated) in North India
Participants	Randomised: 30 participants (methotrexate: mean age 39 years, 12 male; ciclosporin: mean age 46 years, 13 male) Inclusion criteria Participants with moderate‐severe psoriasis (BSA > 40%), age ≥ 18 years Exclusion criteria Pregnancy, kidney insufficiency, liver insufficiency Had uncontrolled hypertension Had past history of malignant tumours Dropouts and withdrawals Not stated
Interventions	Intervention A. Methotrexate (n = 15), orally, 0.5 mg/kg dose tapered after PASI 75 obtained Control intervention B. Ciclosporin (n = 15), orally, 3 mg/kg increased to 4 if no change or rise of dose tapered after PASI 75 obtained
Outcomes	Assessments at 12 weeks Primary or secondary outcomes of the trial Not clearly defined Outcomes of the trial PASI
Notes	Funding source: not stated Declarations of interest: not stated
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Quote (p 459): "Patients were randomly assigned to either..." Comment: no description of the method used to guarantee random sequence generation
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Quote (p 459): "Patients were randomly assigned to either..." Comment: no description of the method used to guarantee allocation concealment
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Comment: not blind
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Comment: not blind
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	30 included/30 analysed Methods for dealing with missing data: not stated
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Comment: no protocol was available. The pre‐specified outcomes mentioned in the methods section appeared to have been reported.No primary outcome declared