Bashar 2013.

Methods	Double‐blind parallel‐group randomised controlled trial
Participants	Baseline characteristics Number randomised: 146 participants Number analysed: 120 participants Ranitidine Age (years; mean (SD)): 50.63 (20.78) Number of participants (n): 60 Gender (male/female; n): 16/44 Pantoprazole Age (years; mean (SD)): 43.67 (19.58) Number of participants (n): 60 Gender (male/female; n): 18/42 Inclusion criteria Intubated patients Age > 18 years Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation score (APACHE II) < 25 Exclusion criteria Pneumonia GI bleeding upon ICU admission History of gastrectomy Anticipated need for tracheal intubation in less than 48 hours Known sensitivity to the studied medication Baseline imbalances: We found no statistically significant differences between the 2 groups regarding baseline characteristics, such as age, sex, or APACHE II
Interventions	Ranitidine Dose (total/d): 150 mg IV or 300 mg PO Duration of treatment (days): during NPO time or when oral feeding started Route: IV or PO Duration of follow‐up (days, mean (SD)): 15.67 (7.11) Intervention: following admission to the ICU, 50 mg intravenous ranitidine (ranitidine 50 mg, Caspian Tamin Co., Rasht, Iran) was administered 3 times daily to 1 group of participants during NPO time to prevent stress ulcers. Thereafter, the day after oral feeding initiation, 150 mg oral ranitidine tablets (ranitidine 150 mg, Darou Pakhsh, Tehran, Iran) were administered twice daily until the end of the trialT Concomitant medications: GI prophylaxis continued until ICU discharge. Other treatments were similarly administered to both groups according to the ICU protocol Pantoprazole Dose (total/d): 40 mg IV or 40 mg PO Duration of treatment (days): during NPO time or when oral feeding started Route: IV or PO Duration of follow‐up (days): 17.58 (7.90) (until discharge) Intervention: Second group received 40 mg intravenous pantoprazole (Pepticare 40 mg, Ronak Pharmaceutical Co., Saveh, Iran) once daily during NPO time. The day after oral feeding initiation, it was replaced with 40 mg pantoprazole tablets (E.C. Tablet Pantoprazole 40 mg, Osveh, Tehran, Iran) once a day for stress ulcer prophylaxis until the end of the trial Concomitant medications: GI prophylaxis was continued until ICU discharge. Other treatments were similarly administered to both groups according to the ICU protocol Adherence to regimen: ‐ Duration of trial: July 2011 to July 2012 Duration of follow‐up: ‐
Outcomes	Outcomes sought in review and reported in trial All‐cause mortality in ICU Duration of intubation Outcomes sought in review but not reported in trial Clinically important GI bleeding VAP All‐cause mortality in hospital Duration of ICU stay Number of participants requiring blood transfusion Number of units of blood transfused Adverse events Outcomes reported, but not used in the review Days until VAP incidence
Notes	Setting: ICU, Iran Source of funding: ‐ Conflicts of interest: ‐ Ethics approval: Trial was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hamedan University of Medical Sciences. Informed consent: Written informed consent was obtained from legal guardians of participants Clinical trials registration: ‐ Sample size calculation: ‐ Conflicts of interest: ‐
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Quote: "The patients were randomised using online random allocation software (www.allocationsoftware.com)"
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Comment: not enough information reported
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Quote: "The patients and the attending intensivists responsible for data collection were blinded to the assigned groups"
Blinding (detection bias) Clinically important upper GI bleeding	Unclear risk	Comment: Trial did not address this outcome
Blinding (detection bias) Nosocomial pneumonia	Low risk	Quote: "Patients underwent chest radiography which was repeated at least twice a week" Comment: Objective outcome measurement unlikely to introduce bias
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) Adverse reactions of interventions	Low risk	Quote: "The patients and intensivists responsible for data collection were blinded to the assigned groups"
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Comment: All participants were followed up until discharge
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Comment: All outcomes listed in the Methods section were reported in the Results section
Other bias	Low risk	Comment: no other sources of bias suspected