Morgan 2000.

Study characteristics
Methods	RCT
Participants	185 women Inclusion criteria: healthy women with uncomplicated term pregnancies undergoing elective CS Exclusion criteria: not specified
Interventions	Variable ephedrine infusions versus crystalloid preload alone versus crystalloid preload + variable ephedrine infusions Group 1: ephedrine infusion alone at 1 mg/min from spinal injection until birth Group 2: ephedrine infusion alone at 2 mg/min from spinal injection until birth Group 3: ephedrine infusion alone at 3‐4 mg/min from spinal injection until birth Group 4: Ringer's lactate 1000 mL over 20 min before spinal injection Group 5: Ringer's lactate 1000 mL over 20 min before spinal injection plus ephedrine infused at 1 mg/min from spinal injection until birth Group 6: Ringer's lactate 1000 mL over 20 min before spinal injection plus ephedrine infused at 2 mg/min from spinal injection until birth Group 7: Ringer's lactate 1000 mL over 20 min before spinal injection plus ephedrine infused at 3‐4 mg/min from spinal injection until birth All women received a standardised spinal anaesthetic technique and dose.
Outcomes	Maternal: hypotension; heart rate; hypertension Neonatal: umbilical artery pH (expressed as means ± SD), BE
Notes	Hypotension defined as decrease in SBP > 30% from baseline Tachycardia defined as heart rate > 130 bpm Hypertension defined as SBP > 150 mmHg
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Method not described
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Method not described
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Blinding: "double blinded" – no further details
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	As above
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Losses to follow‐up: not stated
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Unclear reporting
Other bias	Unclear risk	Unclear reporting