Niu 2006.

Methods	RCT Open‐label Loss to follow‐up reported: yes
Participants	Any type of AF. Type: 41% paroxysmal, 59% persistent (mean duration: NS). n = 102 Men: 56% Age (mean): 56 (SD 11) years Structural heart disease: NS (coronary artery disease 33%, hypertension 25%). LAD: NS. LVEF: NS
Interventions	Amiodarone 200 mg/day vs sotalol 40–80 mg/day Method of AF cardioversion: pharmacological Warfarin discretionary
Outcomes	At 12 months: Mortality Adverse effects AF recurrence
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Participants "were randomized", but the method was not described.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Method of concealment not described.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Open‐label study.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	All withdrawals and dropouts were well described and were not enough to have a clinically relevant impact on the effect estimate.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Main prespecified and expected outcomes were reported.
Other bias	Low risk	No other bias apparent.