Summary characteristics of the host RCTs and hypothetical host RCTs in this review
| Trial characteristic | Real RCTs (n=68) | Hypothetical RCTs (n=13) | Total (n=81) |
| Clinical setting | |||
| Neurology | 39* | 4 | 43 |
| Cardiology | 8 | 4 | 12 |
| Obstetrics | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Infection | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Trauma | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| Critical care | 9 | 1 | 10 |
| Type of interventions | |||
| Invasive/non-invasive | 5/61 | 4/9 | 9/70 |
| Unknown | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Trial design | |||
| Main RCT/pilot RCT | 65/3 | n/a | 65/3 |
| Two groups/more than two groups | 63/5 | 11/2 | 74/7 |
| No of centres† | |||
| Single centre/multicentre/unknown | 3/63/2 | 0/4/9 | 3/67/11 |
| <20 centres | 18 | ||
| 20–100 centres | 33 | ||
| >100 centres | 15 | ||
| Median no of centres (range) | 45 (1–818) | ||
| No of participants† | |||
| <500 | 22 | ||
| 500–1500 | 32 | ||
| >1500 | 14 | ||
| Median no of participants (range) | 624 (4–58 050) | ||
*One recruitment paper included data from 32 stroke host RCTs.
†Hypothetical RCT data did not include information beyond single or multicentre, nor the suggested number of participants.
RCT, randomised controlled trial.