| Methods |
Open randomised controlled trial |
| Participants |
30 subjects aged 6 to 31 with confirmed house dust mite rhinitis and no other concomitant allergy to common aero‐allergens |
| Interventions |
All subjects continued normal rhinitis treatment. In addition, they received either verbal advice on allergen avoidance or provision of the following bedroom‐based intervention for 4 weeks: vinyl mattress cover, daily wet cleaning of floor, fortnightly boil washing of top bedding cover and removal of soft furnishings. |
| Outcomes |
Change in house dust mite load and daily rhinitis symptom scores from baseline and between groups |
| Notes |
— |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Adequate sequence generation? |
Unclear risk |
Randomisation technique was not described in this open trial |
| Allocation concealment? |
Unclear risk |
Insufficient information |
| Blinding? |
Unclear risk |
It is not clear from the report whether the nurse assessing clinical outcome or the entomologist measuring dust mite load were blinded to the treatment group assigned |
| Incomplete outcome data addressed?
All outcomes |
Low risk |
"Total subjects consisted of 29 patients because one subject in the control group failed to complete the study". The reason is not given. In addition, they appear not to have undertaken an intention‐to‐treat analysis. |
| Free of selective reporting? |
Low risk |
All of the study's pre‐specified outcomes are reported |
| Free of other bias? |
Unclear risk |
It is unclear whether any changes were made to the medical treatment received by subjects during the course of the trial and, if so, how this may have impacted on post‐intervention rhinitis symptom scores |
