Saunders 2000.

Methods	6‐8‐week run‐in period 8‐week before‐and‐after study
Participants	221 men and women aged 18‐75 years with type IIa or IIb hypercholesterolaemia TG < 400 mg/dL (4.52 mmol/L) LDL‐C > 160 mg/dL (4.14 mmol/L) for patients with 0‐1 risk factor, > 130 mg/dL (3.36 mmol/L) for those with > 2 risk factors, or > 100 mg/dL (2.59 mmol/L) for those with documented CHD or PVD Exclusion criteria: MI (within the previous year), unstable angina, angina at rest, stroke or recent TIAs, recent coronary revascularisation, uncontrolled hypertension or hypothyroidism, diabetes, chronic liver disease, renal dysfunction, or drug or alcohol abuse, CK levels > 3 x ULN Cerivastatin 0.3 mg/d baseline TC: 6.84 mmol/L (264 mg/dL) Cerivastatin 0.3 mg/d baseline LDL‐C: 4.63 mmol/L (179 mg/dL) Cerivastatin 0.3 mg/d baseline HDL‐C: 1.32 mmol/L (51 mg/dL) Cerivastatin 0.3 mg/d baseline TG: 1.96 mmol/L (174 mg/dL)
Interventions	Cerivastatin 0.3 mg/d evening dosing Pravastatin 20 mg/d evening dosing
Outcomes	Percentage change from baseline at 8 weeks of blood TC, LDL‐C, HDL‐C and TG
Source of funding	Unknown
Notes	Pravastatin 20 mg/d group was not included in the efficacy analysis SDs were imputed by the method of Furukawa 2006
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	High risk	Controlled before‐and‐after design
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	High risk	Controlled before‐and‐after design
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Lipid parameter measurements unlikely influenced by lack of blinding
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) LDL‐C	Low risk	Lipid parameters were measured in a remote laboratory
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) WDAE	High risk	No comparison possible
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) Total cholesterol	Low risk	[(221‐202)/221]*100 = 8.6% participants were not included in the efficacy analysis
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) LDL cholesterol	Low risk	[(221‐202)/221]*100 = 8.6% participants were not included in the efficacy analysis
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) HDL cholesterol	Low risk	[(221‐202)/221]*100 = 8.6% participants were not included in the efficacy analysis
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) Triglycerides	Low risk	[(221‐202)/221]*100 = 8.6% participants were not included in the efficacy analysis
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	LDL‐C outcome was reported
Other bias	Unclear risk	Source of funding not reported