Item	Judgement a	Description (quote from paper, or describekey information)
1. Sequence generation
2. Allocation concealment
3. Confoundingb , c
4. Blinding?b
5. Incomplete outcome data addressed?b
6. Free of selective reporting?b
7. Free of other bias?
8. A priori protocol?d
9. A priori analysis plan?e

^aSome items on low/high risk/unclear scale (double‐line border), some on 5 point scale/unclear (single line border), some on yes/no/unclear scale (dashed border). For all items, record “unclear” if inadequate reporting prevents a judgement being made.

^bFor each outcome in the study.

^cThis item is only used for QESs. It is based on list of confounders considered important at the outset and defined in the protocol for the review (assessment against worksheet).

^dDid the researchers write a protocol defining the study population, intervention and comparator, primary and other outcomes, data collection methods, etc. in advance of starting the study?

^eDid the researchers have an analysis plan defining the primary and other outcomes, statistical methods, subgroup analyses, etc. in advance of starting the study?