Benitez 2010.

Methods	Randomised clinical trial
Participants	Country: Spain Period of recruitment: 2006‐2008 Number randomised: 37 Post‐randomisation dropouts: 0 (0.0%) Revised sample size: 37 Average age (years): 52 Females: 7 (18.9%) Primary transplantation: 37 (100.0%) Reason for transplantation Alcohol‐related cirrhosis: 25 (67.6%) Viral‐related cirrhosis: 2 (5.4%) Autoimmune disease‐related cirrhosis: 0 (0%) HCC: 9 (24.3%) Others: 11 (29.7%) Maintenance immunosuppression used during induction immunosuppression: tacrolimus Altered immunosuppression after withdrawal: no Other exclusion criteria: autoimmune liver disease HCV and/or HIV infection liver transplantation with partial graft previous use of rabbit immunoglobulins acute liver failure
Interventions	Group 1: anti‐thymocyte globulin + glucocorticosteroids (n = 21) Further details: anti‐thymoglobulin 9 mg/kg was started 2–3 h before transplantation and infused i.v. over a 6‐h period preceded by 500 mg methylprednisolone i.v. Group 2: glucocorticosteroids (n = 16) Further details: corticosteroids were administered as follows: 1 g methylprednisolone i.v. during the surgical procedure, 20 mg prednisone daily during the first post‐transplant month, and thereafter doses were tapered down until complete discontinuation during post‐transplant months 3– 6
Outcomes	Outcomes reported: mortality at maximal follow‐up, graft failure at maximal follow‐up, serious adverse events (number of events), graft rejection (any) Follow‐up (months): 12
Notes	Source of funding (quote): "This work was supported by grants from Fresenius Biotech GmbH, Astellas and by the Ministerio de Educaci on y Ciencia, Spain" Trial name/trial registry number: NCT00436722 Attempts were made to contact the authors in August 2019.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Quote: "The randomization sequence was computed‐generated and kept in opaque sealed envelopes."
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Quote: "The randomization sequence was computed‐generated and kept in opaque sealed envelopes."
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Quote: "prospective, randomized, open label, controlled trial"
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Quote: "prospective, randomized, open label, controlled trial"
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Comment: there were no post‐randomisation dropouts
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Comment: no pre‐published protocol was available, but the authors reported on mortality, graft loss, and adverse events
Other bias	High risk	Comment: the dose of tacrolimus was different in the two groups