| Study | Reason for exclusion |
|---|---|
| ACS/NIH 1976 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Ahn 2003 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': age unequally distributed HSCT versus IST: 83 versus 61 patients in age category 14 to 40 years, 73 versus 3 patients in age category >= 41 years, P < 0.001 |
| Arranz 1994 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': assignment by age, cut‐off 40 years |
| Bacigalupo 1988 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Bacigalupo 1996 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Bacigalupo 2000a | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Bacigalupo 2000b | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Camitta 1976 | Control: fewer than 80% of patients with first‐line IST |
| Camitta 1978 | Control: fewer than 80% of patients with first‐line IST |
| Camitta 1979 | Control: fewer than 80% of patients with first‐line IST |
| Cesaro 2010 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Champlin 1984 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': assignment by age, cut‐off 45 years |
| Chen 1992 | Fewer than 5 patients in one arm: 3 patients in MSD‐HSCT group |
| Crump 1992 | Intervention: fewer than 80% of patients with first‐line MSD‐HSCT: 100% second‐line HSCT |
| de Planque 1990 | Intervention: fewer than 80% of patients with first‐line MSD‐HSCT: 42% second‐line HSCT |
| Deyell 2009 | Study design: not prospective |
| Doney 1981 | Intervention: fewer than 80% of patients with first‐line HSCT: haploidentical marrow |
| Doney 1997 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': assignment by age, cut‐off 55 years |
| Fouladi 2000 | Study design: not prospective, no clues to prospective design |
| Ganapiev 2010 | Study design: not prospective, no clues to prospective design [Russian] |
| Garanito 2009 | Study design: not prospective |
| George 2010 | Study design: not prospective |
| Ghavamzadeh 2004 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': assignment by age, cut‐off 45 years |
| Gillio 1997 | Study design: not prospective, reporting of retrospective design |
| Gluckman 1979 | Study design: not prospective, no clues to prospective design; a randomized allocation was reported for the last year of investigation, however, the number of patients randomized and the years of transplantation were not reported |
| Gluckman 1981 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Gluckman 1987 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Golubovskaya 2010 | Unclear information: conference abstract without required information, authors did not clearly report whether allocation was based on availability of MSD and not on patient age |
| Halperin 1989 | Study design: not prospective, no clues to prospective design |
| Hirabayashi 1995 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Horowitz 1989 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Horowitz 1997 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Howard 2004 | Outcome: not a predefined outcome |
| Höcker 1987 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': by age [German] |
| Ilhan 2001 | Patients: fewer than 80% of patients with SAA |
| Kahn 2002 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': assignment by age, cut‐off 40 years |
| Kim 1994 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization' |
| Kim 2003 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': assignment by age, cut‐off 50 years |
| Kodera 1999 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Kojima 1988 | Study design: not prospective, no clues to prospective design |
| Kojima 2000 | Study design: not prospective, reporting of retrospective design |
| Kosaka 2004 | Intervention: fewer than 80% of patients with first‐line MSD‐HSCT: 100% second‐line |
| Kulagin 2006 | Fewer than 5 patients in one arm |
| Lawlor 1997 | Study design: not prospective, reporting of retrospective design |
| Ljungman 1991 | Study design: not prospective, no clues to prospective design [Swedish] |
| Locasciulli 1990 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Locasciulli 2007 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| McCann 1994 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Milosevic 1998 | Intervention: fewer than 80% of patients with first‐line MSD‐HSCT [Serbian] |
| Mollee 2001 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': by age |
| Montante 2009 | Fewer than 5 patients in one arm |
| Mrsic 2009 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization' [Croatian] |
| Nagler 2001 | Patients: fewer than 80% of patients with SAA |
| Paquette 1995 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': age unequally distributed HSCT versus IST, 36% versus 15% in age category 16 to 19 years, 42% versus 40% in age category 19 to 29 years, 22% versus 45% in age category >= 30 years, P = 0.02 |
| Pitcher 1999 | Patients: not at least 80% SAA: 23% of patients with non‐severe aplastic anemia |
| Podesta 1998 | Outcome: not a predefined outcome |
| Pokorski 1998 | Study design: not prospective: registry report |
| Shaw 1999 | Patients: fewer than 80% of patients with SAA |
| Socié 1993 | Patients: fewer than 80% of patients with SAA |
| Sovinz 2010 | Unclear information: conference abstract without required information, authors did not clearly report whether allocation was based on availability of MSD and not on patient age |
| Stalder 2009 | Study design: not prospective |
| Starý 1998 | Study design: not prospective [Czech] |
| Tichelli 1994 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': by age |
| Tschiedel 2010 | Fewer than 5 patients in one arm [German] |
| Tsukimoto 1989 | Outcome: not a predefined outcome |
| Tukic 2009 | Unclear information: conference abstract without required information, authors did not clearly report whether allocation was based on availability of MSD and not on patient age |
| Tzeng 1989 | Study design: not prospective, no clues to prospective design |
| UCLA 1976 | Control: fewer than 80% of patients with first‐line IST: androgens only |
| Uss 1999 | Study design: not prospective [Russian] |
| Viollier 2005 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': assignment by age, cut‐off 40 years |
| Wagner 1996 | Patients: fewer than 80% of patients with SAA |
| Webb 1991 | Study design: not prospective, reporting of retrospective design |
| Werner 1989 | Study design: not prospective, reporting of retrospective design |
| Windass 1987 | Patients: fewer than 80% of patients with SAA |
| Yan 2011 | Intervention: fewer than 80% of patients with first‐line MSD‐HSCT [Chinese] |
| Yoshida 2011 | Allocation: not consistent with 'Mendelian randomization': donors were family members and not siblings |
HSCT: hematopoietic stem cell transplantation IST: immunosuppressive therapy MSD: matched sibling donor MSD‐HSCT: first‐line allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from HLA‐matched (identical) sibling donor SAA: severe aplastic anemia