1. Lutz Kaufner is employed as a clinical and academic anaesthesiologist with a clinical and research focus on preoperative anaemia and haemostasis. He has no conflict of interest relating to this review or any products relating to this review. He received personal honoraria for lectures and travel cost reimbursements from Daiichi Sankyo in 2015, CSL Behring in 2015, NovoNordisk in 2015, TEM International in 2013, and HICC GbR in 2014 and 2015. His institution received a one‐time honoraria from Bristol‐Myers Squibb in 2015 for an advisory board membership concerning New Oral Anticoagulations (NOAC). None of the mentioned companies produce any products of the intervention of interest of this review. All received honoraria for lectures, and travel cost reimbursements were unrelated to the topic of the review.

2. Ravi Gil is a Consultant Cardiac Anaesthetist. He was paid by CSL Behring for a Steering committee position during the NCT00395447 trial. This role ended in October 2015. He was paid as an advisory board member to both Ocatapharma and CSL Behring in 2014. He provided expert testimony for two medical legal reports, completed in 2015, in the area of complications during cardiac surgery and payment for lectures including service on speakers bureaus. Dr Gil was paid to speak on behalf of Octapharma at the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) meeting in September 2014. The Role of Prothrombin Complex Concentrates (PCC) during Cardiac Surgery, the European Society of Anaesthesiology meeting in September 2015, and the International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (ISCIEM) meeting in March 2016. CSL Behring and Ocatapharma do not produce the products of the intervention of interest. All received honoraria for lectures, and travel cost reimbursements were unrelated to the topic of the review.

3. Stephanie Weibel is an academic researcher. She received personal payments for consultancies and lecture fees from Genelux Corporation, San Diego, USA (ended March 2014). Genelux Corp does not produce any products of the intervention of interest of this review.

4. Nathan Pace is a non‐practicing anaesthesiologist and statistician faculty member of the University of Utah, receives no private practice income, and has no commercial relationships.

5. Peter Kranke is employed as a Professor of Anaesthesia. He has received payment for consultancies (monies paid to Prof Kranke) from: MSD, FreseniusKabi, Ratiopharm, B Braun, and Acacia Ltd; grants/grants pending from: FreseniusKabi and Baxter; and payments for lectures from: FreseniusKabi, MSD, Ratiopharm, The Medicines Company, Covidien/Medtronic, Ratiopharm, CSL‐Behring, and Baxter. None of the mentioned companies produce any products of the intervention of interest of this review. All received honoraria were unrelated to the topic of the review. Peter Kranke has no conflict of interest relating to the topic of this review.

6. Joerg Meerpohl is Co‐Director of the German Cochrane Centre and a trained paediatrician, paediatric haematologist, and oncologist. He has no conflicts of interest.

7. Christian von Heymann is employed as a clinical and academic anaesthesiologist with a clinical and research focus on perioperative blood conservation and haemostasis at a tertiary care and teaching hospital in Berlin, Germany. He has received grants unrelated to this review from Bayer AG; Boehringer Ingelheim; and Bristol Myers Squibb/Pfizer.

Christian von Heymann has received personal payments for consultancies and lecture fees from: Bayer AG; Astra Zeneca; Boehringer Ingelheim); Ferring GmbH; Haemonetics; Octapharma GmbH; Pfizer; TEM International; Daiichi Sankyo; Sanofi Aventis; Bristol Myers Squibb; NovoNordisk GmbH; CSL Behring; Mylan Healthcare GmbH and Baxter GmbH, none of which are relevant to this review. Christian von Heymann received payment for development of educational presentations from HICC GbR, none of which are relevant to this review.

Christian von Heymann has received personal payments for consultancies and lecture fees from Vifor Pharma Gmbh and Janssen‐Cilag Gmb on the management of preoperative anaemia in April 2013 and August 2013. Vifor Pharma GmbH manufactures Ferricarboxymaltose and Janssen‐Cilag manufactures Epoetin alpha which are potential comparators in this review.

Christian von Heymann has been delegated by the European Association of Cardiothoracic Anaesthesiologists (EACTA) to take part in the European Guideline on Patient Blood Management in Cardiac Surgery which is a joint venture from EACTA and the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons (EACTS). This activity is unpaid.

None of the mentioned companies, except Vifor Pharma Gmbh or Janssen‐Cilag Gmb, produce any products of the intervention of interest of this review. All received honoraria for lectures and travel cost reimbursements, except those from Vifor Pharma Gmbh or Janssen‐Cilag Gmb, were unrelated to the topic of the review.

8. Anne Henkelmann is a pharmacist and is working as a research associate at the Department of Anesthesiology at Charité‐Universitätsmedizin Berlin. She has no conflicts of interest.