Chang 1997.

Methods	Randomised clinical trial
Participants	Country: Taiwan, China Period of recruitment: not stated Number randomised: 26 Post‐randomisation dropouts: not stated Revised sample size: 26 Average age (years): 59 Females: 0 (0.0%) Ascites grade 2: 0 (0.0%) Ascites grade 3: 26 (100.0%) Refractory or recurrent ascites: not stated Alcohol‐related cirrhosis: 0 (0.0%) Viral‐related cirrhosis: 26 (100.0%) Autoimmune disease‐related cirrhosis: 0 (0.0%) Other causes for cirrhosis: 0 (0.0%) Prophylactic antibiotics for subacute bacterial peritonitis: not stated Exclusion criteria 1. Cardiac or respiratory disorders 2. Other features of decompensated cirrhosis
Interventions	Group 1: Aldosterone antagonists plus loop diuretics (n = 13) Further details: Spironolactone 100 to 400 mg/day and furosemide 80 to 240 mg/day oral for 4 to 9 days Group 2: Paracentesis plus fluid replacement (n = 13) Further details: Large volume paracentesis + albumin 6 to 8 g/litre of ascites removed
Outcomes	None of the outcomes of interest were reported.
Notes	Source of funding (quote): "This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Council of the Republic of China (NSC842331‐B075‐005)". Trial name/trial registry number: not stated Attempts were made to contact the authors in November 2018.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Quote: "Patients were then randomly allocated to two groups (random number table)".
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Comment: this information was not available.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Comment: this information was not available.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Comment: this information was not available.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Comment: two patients were excluded from the analysis it was not clear whether this was pre‐randomisation or post‐randomisation.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Comment: pre‐published protocol was not available.
Other bias	Low risk	Comment: no other bias noted