Elborn 1992.

Methods	A prospective, double‐blind, placebo controlled, randomised cross‐over design with study duration of 6 weeks. There were five participants who dropped out; we are unsure when these occurred. Two participants declined to take part in second limb of study. No washout period mentioned.
Participants	Twenty participants (12 females, mean age 50 years, range 30 to 65) were studied with bronchiectasis diagnosed by bronchogram in 18 and computed tomography scan in two. No participant received a course of antibiotics for at least 8 weeks prior to the study. Exclusion: participants with hypogammaglobulinaemia, cystic fibrosis, ABPA or primary ciliary dyskinesia, as well as those taking OCS or ICS.
Interventions	Inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate 750 µg twice daily by MDI or placebo for 6 weeks.
Outcomes	FEV1 FVC PEFR (morning and evening) 24‐hour sputum amount collected weekly from patients visual analogue scale for cough, wheeze and dyspnoea recorded on a diary card and on a 75 mm line (higher value better)
Notes	Cross‐over design with no washout period. Separate results of first arm not available. Data not included in analysis. No funding source mentioned, though acknowledgement for ICS was given to Allen and Hanburys.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No information was provided within the published article about generation of randomisation.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No information about concealment was reported in the article.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Quote: "double‐blinded" and "matched placebo".
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	There were 5 patients who dropped out; we are unsure when these occurred. Two patients declined to take part in second arm of study.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	No suggestion that selective reporting may have been done.
Other bias	High risk	Cross‐over design with no washout period. Separate results of first arm not available.