Ali 2014.

Methods	Randomised clinical trial
Participants	Country: Pakistan Period of recruitment: 2012–2013 Number randomised: 126 Postrandomisation dropouts: not stated Revised sample size: 126 Mean age (years): 42 Females: 66 (52.4%) Presence of other features of decompensation (hepatorenal syndrome, hepatic encephalopathy, or variceal bleeding): 126 (100%) Ascites with low protein: not stated Primary prophylaxis: not stated Alcohol‐related cirrhosis: 4 (3.2%) Viral‐related cirrhosis: 120 (95.2%) Autoimmune disease‐related cirrhosis (e.g. PSC, PBC, AIH): not stated Other causes for cirrhosis: 2 (1.6%) Treated for ascites in addition to antibiotics (e.g. albumin or diuretics): not stated Inclusion criteria: ≥ 2 episodes of hepatic encephalopathy Exclusion criteria: hypersensitivity to rifamycin and its products calcium level > 10 mg/dL hepatocellular carcinoma comorbidities such as chronic kidney disease, respiratory insufficiency, and cerebrovascular injury
Interventions	Participants randomly assigned to 2 groups. Group 1: rifaximin (n = 63) Further details: rifaximin 550 mg BD for 6 months or until recurrence of hepatorenal syndrome Group 2: no active intervention (n = 63) Further details: placebo for 6 months
Outcomes	Outcomes reported: all‐cause mortality; number of other decompensation events Follow‐up (months): 6
Notes	Attempted to contact authors in November 2018, but received no replies.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Comment: information not available
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Comment: information not available
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Quote: "Triple blind randomized placebo‐controlled trial… The patients, the investigator and the statistician did not know which patients were receiving Rifaximin and which were being given placebo."
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Quote: "Triple blind randomized placebo‐controlled trial… The patients, the investigator and the statistician did not know which patients were receiving Rifaximin and which were being given placebo."
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Comment: information not available
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	High risk	Comment: protocol not available, and authors did not report adverse events adequately.
Other bias	Low risk	Comment: no other bias noted