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. 2014 Oct 31;2014(10):CD003748. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD003748.pub4

Elam 1998.

Methods Study design: multicentre, randomised, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled
 Intention to treat: yes
Country: USA
Participants Number randomised: 189 (cilostazol n = 95; placebo n = 94)
Age (mean years): cilostazol = 66.7; placebo = 65.8
Sex M/F: cilostazol = 83/12; placebo = 76/18
 Inclusion criteria: men and women > 40 years; chronic stable intermittent claudication secondary to PAD
 Exclusion criteria: women with childbearing potential; gross obesity; poorly controlled hypertension or diabetes; history of malignancy; current alcohol or drug abuse; renal disease; bleeding tendencies
Interventions Treatment: cilostazol 100 mg, twice daily, orally
 Control: placebo, twice daily, orally
Duration: 12 weeks
Outcomes Lipid profiles, ICD, ACD, ABI
Outcomes evaluated at baseline 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 weeks (treadmill tests conducted at two baseline visits, and weeks 8 and 12)
Notes "Delayed‐incline" treadmill method, where incline loading was delayed until the third minute then gradually increased by 3.5% increments every three minutes, with a constant speed of 3.2 km/h
Minimum two‐week lead‐in period
Risk of bias
Bias Authors' judgement Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias) Unclear risk Insufficient description of sequence generation methods
Allocation concealment (selection bias) Unclear risk Insufficient description of allocation concealment methods
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) 
 All outcomes Unclear risk Although study used a placebo, there is insufficient description to determine if blinding is adequate
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) 
 All outcomes Low risk "All lipid analyses were blinded to the investigators and patients after randomization". Although it was not directly addressed for other outcomes, it is assumed blinding was adequate
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) 
 All outcomes Low risk All patients who completed the study were comparable between treatment groups
Selective reporting (reporting bias) High risk In the methods the authors state both pain‐free and maximum walking distances as primary exercise variables, but only maximum walking distance is reported on
Other bias Unclear risk Study supported by Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Inc