3. Characteristics of the included studies for the comparison: methylprednisolone versus dexamethasone for hospitalised individuals with a confirmed diagnosis of symptomatic COVID‐19.

Study ID	Intervention A	Hydrocortisone equivalent of initial dose (for 80 kg bodyweight if applicable)	Intervention B	Randomised to intervention A	Randomised to Intervention B	Study design	Place of residence (World Bank 2021) and recruitment period	Age	Sex (% female)	Population/disease severity at randomisation on WHO Clinical Progression Scale (Marshall 2020)
Ranjbar 2021	Methylprednisolone 2 mg/kg, i.e. for an 80 kg participant: IV 160 mg for 5 days + 80 mg for 5 days + 40 mg for 5 days + 20 mg for 5 days (approximation of tapering scheme)	800 mg/d in the methylprednisolone arm for an 80 kg participant   1000 mg/d in the dexamethasone arm fixed	Dexamethasone, IV, 6 mg for 10 days	44	42	Triple‐blind Single‐centre	Middle‐income country (Iran) between August and November 2020	Mean (years, SD) Methylprednisolone group: 56.2 (17.5) Dexamethasone group: 61.3 (17.3)	Intervention A group: 17 (38.6%) Intervention B group: 20 (47.6%)	Moderate 4 to 5
IV: intravenous, d: day, SD: standard deviation