Gomaa 2008.

Methods	STUDY DESIGN: parallel LOCATION, NUMBER OF CENTRES: Cairo, Egypt DURATION OF STUDY: 14 days
Participants	N SCREENED: not stated N RANDOMISED: 42 N COMPLETED: not stated M not stated/F not stated AGE: not stated BASELINE DETAILS: not stated INCLUSION CRITERIA: COPD exacerbation with postbronchodilator FEV1 less than 50% of predicted and without respiratory acidosis EXCLUSION CRITERIA: not stated
Interventions	SCS ≤ 7 days: prednisolone 30 mg 7 days SCS > 7 days: prednisolone 30 mg 14 days Co‐interventions: not stated FOLLOW‐UP PERIOD: 30 days
Outcomes	FEV1 day 1, day 7, day 14 and day 30 Symptom score evaluation (breathlessness, cough and sputum)
Notes	Information from abstract only
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not stated
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not stated
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	States single blinded but no details on blinding provided
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Specific data not provided
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Inadequate information to address