Peden 1998 b.

Methods	DESIGN: randomised, double‐blind, double‐dummy, placebo‐controlled, parallel‐group study; multi‐centre
Participants	SYMPTOMATIC PARTICIPANTS RANDOMLY ASSIGNED: N = 174 INTERVENTION: ICS (fluticasone 100 μg/d): 91 CONTROL: ICS (fluticasone 200 μg/d): 83 WITHDRAWALS: reported AGE: median (years) (range): 4 to 11 years INTERVENTION: ICS (fluticasone 100 μg/d): not reported CONTROL: ICS (fluticasone 200 μg/d): not reported GENDER: N (male %): INTERVENTION: ICS (fluticasone 100 μg/d): 50 (55) CONTROL: ICS (fluticasone 200 μg/d): 50 (60) ASTHMA SEVERITY: mild to moderate persistent asthma ASTHMA DURATION: median (months) (range): not reported MEAN (± SD) β2‐AGONIST USE (puffs/d): not reported DOSE OF ICS AT STUDY ENTRY AND AT RUN‐IN: not reported ATOPY (% of participants): not reported ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA As above EXCLUSION CRITERIA As above
Interventions	PROTOCOL DURATION Run‐in = 2 weeks Intervention = 12 weeks DEVICE: Diskus or Diskhaler DOSE OF ICS INTERVENTION: fluticasone 100 μg/d CONTROL: fluticasone 200 μg/d CRITERIA FOR WITHDRAWAL FROM STUDY: reported
Outcomes	As above
Notes	As above
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Insufficient information on sequence generation
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Insufficient information
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Blinding of participants and key study personnel ensured
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Blinding of participants and key study personnel ensured
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	No missing outcome data
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Study protocol not available but published reports include all expected outcomes, including those that were prespecified
Other bias	Low risk	Study apparently free of other sources of bias