| Methods |
RCT |
| Participants |
73 adults, mean age 31 years, 60% women, 19% active smokers, outpatient department, USA, common cold of less than 72 hours' duration |
| Interventions |
Antihistamine‐decongestant combination: dexbrompheniramine maleate 6 mg and pseudoephedrine sulphate 120 mg combination twice daily for 1 week |
| Outcomes |
Patient diary and cough score from 0 to 4 |
| Notes |
Increased severity of dizziness and dry mouth in the active drug group compared to the placebo group (P value < 0.01, exact figures not reported) |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Low risk |
Computer‐generated |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Not reported |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
Patients and providers blinded; outcome assessor blinding not reported |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Low risk |
85% follow‐up, difference between groups not reported. Overall drop‐outs due to inconvenience of study and not due to side effects |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Unclear risk |
Not reported |
| Other bias |
Unclear risk |
Not reported |
