EMERALD 2000.

Methods	RCT Double‐blind Loss to follow‐up reported: yes
Participants	Persistent AF (1 week to 1 year, mean duration < 6 months). n = 535 Men: 70% Age (mean): 64 years Structural heart disease: NS. LAD: NS. LVEF: NS
Interventions	Dofetilide 250 µg/day, 500 µg/day or 1000 µg/day (3 different groups) vs sotalol 160 mg/day vs placebo Method of AF cardioversion: 10% pharmacological, 90% electrical Warfarin discretionary
Outcomes	At 12 months: Mortality Adverse effects Proarrhythmia AF recurrence
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No description of the method employed.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Method of concealment not described.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Presented as "double‐blind", but no detail given about how blinding was obtained.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Withdrawals and dropouts were well detailed.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	All prespecified outcomes are adequately reported.
Other bias	Low risk	No other bias apparent.