| Methods |
Randomised
Single centre
Parallel group |
| Participants |
Adult
N = 50 |
| Interventions |
IVIg 0.5 g/kg daily for 4 days versus PE 40 mL/kg to 50 mL/kg on 5 occasions over 7 to 10 days |
| Outcomes |
Multiple
See text of review |
| Notes |
|
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
"Patients were randomly allocated to either PE or IVIg". Method not described |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
"Patients were randomly allocated to either PE or IVIg". Method not described |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes except death |
High risk |
Open study |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
Death |
Low risk |
Reporting of death unlikely to be biased by lack of blinding |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes except death |
High risk |
6 PE and 0 IVIg excluded because of protocol violations |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
Death |
Low risk |
Reporting of death likely to have been complete |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
High risk |
6 were subsequently excluded from further analysis as a result of protocol violations; all were in the PE‐treated group |
| Other bias |
Low risk |
None detected |
| Diagnostic criteria |
Low risk |
NINCDS criteria for GBS |
| Baseline differences |
Low risk |
No significant differences in age, gender or severity |
