Xu 2002.

Methods	Study design: RCT Conducted in China Number of centres: 1 Recruitment period: unclear Funding source: unspecified
Participants	Inclusion criteria: clinical and histopathological diagnosis of OLP Exclusion criteria: systemic diseases, other oral mucosa diseases or advanced periodontal diseases; any immunomodulating drug in last 3 months Group A: randomised 20; analysed 20 Group B: randomised 19; analysed 19
Interventions	Group A: 3‐step treatment by traditional and Western medicine combined (herbal topical and decoction + prednisone 5–10 mg 3 times daily chlorphenamine 4 mg 3 times daily, vitamin C 0.1 g 3 times daily). Herbal treatment applied topically, followed by herbal decoction + decreasing doses of Western medicine, followed by herbal decoction only. Treatment duration 6 weeks Group B: Western medicine (prednisone 5–10 mg 3 times daily, chlorphenamine 4 mg 3 times daily, vitamin C 0.1g 3 times daily), dosage gradually decreased over 4‐week period
Outcomes	Clinical score (4‐grade score), relapse rate
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Quote: "randomised trial." Method of sequence generation not available.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Insufficient information to permit judgement.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Not feasible.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Not feasible.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	No missing data. All randomised participants included in result analysis.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Insufficient information to permit judgement.
Other bias	Low risk	No other sources of bias identified.