Table 1

Author, date and country	Patient group	Study type (level of evidence)	Outcomes	Key results	Study weaknesses
Leppik et al, 1983, USA	78 adult patients with status epilepticus.	PRCT	Clinical control of seizure activity:	Lorazepam 89% within 2 doses	Small numbers
	iv Lorazepam (4 mg) v iv diazepam (10 mg)			v diazepam 76% within 2 doses	Many different types of seizure activity
Treiman et al, 1998, USA	384 patients with generalised convulsions from 570 patients with status epilepticus.	PRCT	Stopping all motor seizure activity / EEG activity in <20 minutes.	55.8% v 64.9% v 58.2% v 43.6%	Some patients were treated prior to inclusion in trial.
	iv diazepam (0.15 mg/kg) plus phenytoin (0.1 mg/kg) v			In an intention to treat analysis the differences between treatment groups were not significant (p=0.12).	No long term follow up of patients.
	iv lorazepam (0.1 mg/kg) v
	iv phenobarbitone (15 mg/kg) v
	iv phenytoin (18 mg/kg)