Gupta 1978.

Methods	Double‐blind, placebo controlled Randomised Number of patients excluded after randomisation: not stated Number of losses to follow‐up: not stated
Participants	India 30 patients (sex breakdown and age not stated) Time from onset of stroke to enrolment: less than 24 hours Method of diagnosis: clinical, lumbar puncture to exclude haemorrhage (100%) 13 Betamethasone 17 Placebo
Interventions	Betamethasone versus placebo Intervention: betamethasone 10 mg stat, 10 mg/day in divided doses for 2 days, 8 mg/day in divided doses for 3 days, 6 mg/day in divided doses for 3 days, 4 mg/day for 3 days, 2 mg/day for 10 days: total dose: 94 mg betamethasone Placebo: unspecified Duration: 21 days
Outcomes	Death at 21 days Neurological status (self‐made method) at 1, 2 and 3 days, and at 1, 2 and 3 weeks Cerebrospinal fluid pressures Adverse events not reported
Notes	Exclusions: not stated Follow‐up: 21 days
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not stated
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not stated
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	"ampoules of the drug and placebo were similar in appearance"
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Authors do not indicate if there were any patients excluded or lost to follow‐up prior to analysis