Al‐Hamamy 2014

Methods	RCT, active‐placebo controlled, open‐label trial Date of study: February 2010‐October 2011 Location: Baghdad, Iraq (1 centre)
Participants	Randomised: 120 participants (mean age 41 years, 41 male) Inclusion criteria Participants with moderate‐severe psoriasis (BSA > 10%) Age ≥ 18 and ≤ 60 years Exclusion criteria Pregnancy, kidney insufficiency, liver insufficiency, past history of malignant tumours Had received conventional systemic treatments in the 4 past weeks Had received biologics (anti‐TNFα) Had uncontrolled diabetes Dropouts and withdrawals 7 (6%) No more statements regarding time and reasons of follow‐up
Interventions	Intervention A. Methotrexate + NBUVB (n = 38), 20 mg/week + 45 mJ/cm2, 3 times/week Control intervention B. NBUVB (n = 38), 45 mJ/cm2, 3 times/week C. Methotrexate (n = 37), 20 mg/week
Outcomes	Assessment at 6 months Primary outcomes of the trial PASI 90 Secondary outcomes of the trial Number of weeks for achieving clearance Total cumulative dose of UVB Relapses (PASI returning at 50% of original score for 1 year)
Notes	Funding: not stated Declarations of interest: none
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Quote (page 1531): "three groups randomly...” Comment: no description of the method used to guarantee random sequence generation
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Comment: No description of the method used to guarantee allocation concealment
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Comment: not stated that it was a blind trial, probably not blind
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Comment: no independent assessor. Not stated that it was a blind trial, probably not blind
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Randomly assigned 120, analysed 113 Management of missing data: not stated
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Comment: no protocol available. The outcomes mentioned in the methods section appeared to have been reported.