Sarin 1996.

Methods	Single‐centre, open randomised clinical trial
Participants	Included participants: cirrhosis with high‐risk oesophageal varices (n = 68) or non‐cirrhotic portal hypertension/extrahepatic portal vein block with high risk oesophageal varices (n = 6), with no history of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (Table 4) Age (mean ± standard deviation): banding 41.8 ± 13.7 years no intervention 39.3 ± 11.9 years Proportion of men: banding 80.0% no intervention 78.8% Aetiology of cirrhosis (banding; no intervention): alcohol 40.0%; 33.3% chronic viral hepatitis not specified Child‐Pugh score (A/B/C): banding 9/16/11 no intervention 10/13/10 Presence of ascites: banding 30 (85.7%) no intervention 26 (78.8%)
Interventions	Intervention comparison: Band ligation (n = 35) (Table 5) participants who developed recurrent varices (n = 10) underwent further banding participants who bled during follow‐up were banded, if possible No intervention (n = 33) participants who bled during follow‐up were banded, if possible Cointerventions: no information provided
Outcomes	Outcomes included in the meta‐analyses: Mortality Upper gastrointestinal bleeding Variceal bleeding Serious adverse events
Inclusion period	Not described
Country	India
Duration of follow‐up	Mean ± SD (months): banding 13.9 ± 4.6; no intervention 14.2 ± 5.5
Notes	Publication status: full paper The number of participants described in this paper is inconsistent The participants in the two groups were well‐matched in relation to their demography, the aetiology and severity of their liver disease and their clinical presentation The number of participants in the control group who suffered non‐serious adverse events is not reported. Thus, we were not able to include this randomised clinical trial in the analysis of non‐serious adverse events (Table 6). For‐profit funding: not described
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not reported
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not reported
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Open randomised clinical trial without blinding
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Open randomised clinical trial without blinding
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	There are no missing outcomes and all participants are included in the analyses.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Clinically relevant outcomes are defined and reported. We did not have access to the trial protocol.
Other bias	Low risk	No other biases identified
Overall bias assessment (mortality)	High risk	High risk of bias
Overall bias assessment (non‐mortality outcomes)	High risk	High risk of bias