De Vecchi 1986.

Methods	Study design: parallel RCT Time frame: not reported but before 1986 Follow‐up period: 2 years Primary endpoint: not reported
Participants	Country: Italy Setting: single centre Cadaveric kidney transplantation, no further inclusion criteria provided Number (randomised/analysed): withdrawal group (25/25); maintenance group 26/26) Mean age ± SD (years): withdrawal group (36 ± 12); maintenance group (36 ± 10) Sex (female): withdrawal group (48%); maintenance group (35%) Exclusion criteria: not reported
Interventions	Treatment group Steroid withdrawal day 1 after transplantation Control group Steroid maintenance Baseline immunosuppression CsA: day 0 to 3: 5 mg/kg/d IV; from day 4: 15 mg/kg/d PO; tapered by 2 mg/kg every 16 days until maintenance dose of 5 mg/kg/d at month 4, given as single morning dose Steroids IV methylprednisone: 500 mg during transplantation Withdrawal group: no further steroids. Maintenance group: methylprednisone: day 1: 160 mg IV; day 2: 120 mg IV; day 3: 16 mg; reduced by 4 mg every 2 months until maintenance dose of 8 mg/d by the end of month 6
Outcomes	Mortality Graft loss Acute rejection SCr (mg/dL)
Notes	Did not report number screened for eligibility Number of patients discontinued treatment 18 patients in the withdrawal group had steroids added 6 patients in withdrawal group switched to AZA or triple immunosuppression and were excluded 5 patients in maintenance group switched to AZA or triple immunosuppression and were excluded
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Stated 'randomly assigned' but no further information provided
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Low risk	Stated 'assigned by sealed envelopes'
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	High risk	Open‐label
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Open‐label
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Outcomes are objective hard endpoints
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	ITT analysis not performed; 6 patients in treatment group and 5 patients in control group excluded because of switch to different immunosuppression
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Primary outcomes for this review reported
Other bias	Low risk	Funded by grant of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche