Brown 1990.

Methods	Design: randomised controlled trial. Multi‐centre or single‐centre: single‐centre. Period: not reported. Sample size calculation: not reported. Generation of allocation: random numbers table. Allocation concealment: not reported. Blinded assessment of treatment allocation: not reported. Withdrawals: 3 recruited participants withdrawn (2 deaths, 1 transferred to another unit on day 2). Intention‐to‐treat analysis: not reported. Follow‐up: not reported
Participants	How many enter the study on each arm? 23 participants, 20 analysed (BCAA 4 women and 6 men; control 1 woman and 9 men) How many finish the study on each arm? BCAA group 7; control group 2 Mean age: BCAA group 43 years; control group 33 years (overall 38 years) Mean total burn surface area (TBSA): BCAA 45%; control 49% Inclusion criteria: consecutively thermally injured patients who required PN for > 7 days and > 10% TBSA Exclusion criteria: TBSA < 10%, acute renal failure, liver failure and insulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus; patients who received steroids within 24 hours of the start of parenteral nutrition
Interventions	All participants had parenteral nutrition―isocaloric, isonitrogenous and isovolumic (n = 20): Experimental/BCAA group (n = 10): modified amino acid solution with 45% BCAA Control (n = 10): standard amino acid solution with 19% BCAA
Outcomes	Death, LOS
Notes	Other outcomes (biochemical): C‐reactive protein, albumin, prealbumin, fibronectin, etc
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Generated by random numbers sequence
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not described
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Did not address blinding
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	3 participants excluded after randomisation 3 recruited participants withdrawn (2 deaths, 1 transferred to another unit on day 2)
Other bias	High risk	No intention‐to‐treat principle applied