Foster 1997.

Methods	Allocation: randomised; no further details. Blindness: double. Design: parallel. Duration: 4 hours (ultra short‐term trial duration). Location: not indicated. Setting: not indicated.
Participants	Diagnosis: schizophrenia (N = 13), bipolar disorder (N = 13), schizoaffective (N = 4), psychotic disorder NOS (N = 7), acute exacerbation (DSM‐III‐R). N = 37. Age: mean 41.8 years. Sex: 26 M, 11 F.
Interventions	1. Lorazepam: dose 2 mg every 30 min for 4 hours. N = 17. 2. Haloperidol: dose 5 mg every 30 min for 4 hours. N = 20.
Outcomes	Leaving the study early. Global state: CGI. Mental state: BPRS. Adverse effects: EPS, extreme sedation, use of antiparkinson medication.
Notes	Rapid tranquillisation. No differences were found either in the number of doses administered or in the administration route selected. Lorazepam may provide an excellent alternative for rapid tranquillisation of the acutely agitated psychotic patient in the emergency room setting.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Randomly assigned; no further details.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No further details.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	“Double‐blind”; no further details
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	“Double‐blind”. “All raters were unaware of the specific medication received by the patient.”  Raters were trained by the first author of the trial, and “periodic calibration training sessions were conducted to control for rater drift. Initial training was continued until raters agreed on item scores at least 90% of the time.”
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	No participant left the trial early.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	The outcomes that are of interest in the review have been reported in the pre‐specific way with the exception of adverse effects, which were not fully addressed.
Other bias	High risk	Baseline‐imbalance regarding the diagnosis randomised to the both different treatment groups.