SAFIRE‐D 2000.

Methods	RCT Double‐blind Loss to follow‐up reported: yes
Participants	Persistent AF or AFl lasting 2 weeks to 6 months (mean duration: NS). n = 250 Men: 84% Age (mean): 67 (range 30–88) years Structural heart disease: 67%. LAD: NS. LVEF: NS
Interventions	Dofetilide various doses (250 µg/day, 500 µg/day and 1000 µg/day) vs placebo Method of AF cardioversion: pharmacological 15%, electrical 85% Warfarin discretionary
Outcomes	At 12 months: Mortality Proarrhythmia Adverse effects AF recurrence
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Method of randomisation not described.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Method of concealment not described.
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Reported as "double blind", but details on the procedure employed were not given.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Withdrawals and dropouts were well detailed, not many and balanced between groups.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	All prespecified and expected outcomes of interest were well described.
Other bias	Low risk	No other bias apparent.