FRISC‐II.
Methods | Prospective, randomised, multicentre trial with parallel groups. Invasve and non‐invasive treatments compared by factorial design. | |
Participants | 2457 participants with anginal pain within the last 48 hours and ST depression or elevated cardiac markers. Overall impression of participant risk level: intermediate‐high. | |
Interventions | Conservative arm: aspirin, beta blocker, statin, ACEI, dalteparin or UFH.
Invasive arm: as above and routine angiography (average time to angiography: 4 days). 10% glycoprotein 2b/3a receptor antagonist use. Each strategy further randomised to placebo or dalteparin in a double‐blind fashion. |
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Outcomes | Death all causes (6, 12, 24 months, 5 years), MI (6, 12, 24 months, 5 years), refractory angina (6 months), death or non‐fatal MI (6, 12, 24 months, 5 years), rehospitalisation (6 weeks, 6, 12 months), procedural MI, bleeding, contrast allergy. | |
Notes | Sponsored by Pharmacia and Upjohn (a subsidiary of Pfizer). | |
Risk of bias | ||
Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Low risk | Random sequence generation algorithm was not disclosed. An independent organisation performed randomisation. There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics of the groups, which supports minimal selection bias. |
Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Low risk | An independent organisation performed randomisation by telefax (Clinical Data Care, Lund, Sweden). |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes | High risk | Allocation to invasive and non‐invasive strategies was open (allocation to long‐term dalteparin treatment with placebo was double‐blinded). |
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes | High risk | Open. |
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | Low risk | Attrition was equivalent between groups. The trial randomised 1222 participants to invasive, with 32 lost to 6‐month follow‐up (2.62%) compared with 1235 participants randomised to conservative management and 49 lost to 6‐month follow‐up (3.96%). The trial used intention‐to‐treat (ITT) analysis. |
Other bias | Low risk | The sponsoring pharmaceutical company employed continuous source‐data verification of all case‐record forms by external monitors. An independent clinical‐event committee and a data and safety monitoring board adjudicated adverse events. |