Reporting and Replicating Trials of Exercise-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation

Abstract

Background-Complete reporting of all components of complex interventions is essential for translation of research evidence into clinical practice. Previous work has highlighted deficiencies in the reporting of nonpharmacological interventions; however, the reporting quality of exercise-based interventions for coronary heart disease has not been examined. Methods and Results-A systematic search strategy was used to identify randomized controlled trials of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation published until December 2013. Fifty-seven trials were included, reporting on 74 interventions. Intervention description completeness was assessed using the Template for Intervention Description and Replication checklist. Missing intervention details were then sought from additional published material and also by emailing corresponding authors. Only 6 interventions (8%) sufficiently described all required items within the main publication; this increased to 11 (15%) after searching for additional published material and 32 (43%) after contacting trial authors. Although location/setting and duration were consistently well reported in publications, complete descriptions of the exercise schedule, as well as details about its tailoring and progression, were missing for over half of interventions (complete for 42% and 36% of interventions, respectively). Although some authors (25/61) were able to provide missing intervention details when contacted, others could not be located (20)

Do we really know what they were testing? Incomplete reporting of interventions in randomised trials of upper limb therapies in unilateral cerebral palsy

“…Similar to previous findings (Abell, Glasziou, & Hoffmann, 2015;Bryant, Passey, Hall, & Sanson-Fisher, 2014;Hoffmann et al, 2013;Pino, Boutron, & Ravaud, 2012), our results highlight that details about the materials used in the delivery of interventions and in the training of intervention providers were the most poorly reported. Home programs were a key component in many upper limb studies, and one study directly investigated their efficacy (Novak, Cusick, & Lannin, 2009).…”

“…Reporting of the research intervention setting/location in over half of the trials is similar to previous studies (Abell et al, 2015;Hoffmann et al, 2013). Although tailoring was more highly reported in these paediatric trials of upper limb interventions and reflected individualisation related to collaborative goal setting, the specific details of how tailoring was done and how interventions were progressed was not thoroughly described.…”

“…Additionally, this study included all randomised trials of upper limb therapy irrespective of publication year (Hoffmann et al, 2013) or journal quality (Glasziou et al, 2008). Unlike previous studies (Abell et al, 2015;Hoffmann et al, 2013), however, we did not approach authors to gain additional information to determine whether the completeness of interventions details could be improved. Previous studies have shown that additional information can be gained directly from authors (Hoffmann et al, 2013) and researchers and clinicians should contact authors to determine if there is more detailed information available to assist with knowledge translation processes.…”

Prescribing exercise interventions for patients with chronic conditions

“…An analysis of the reporting of the exercise component used in cardiac rehabilitation trials found that adequate descriptions of the exercise schedule were missing for 58% of the interventions. 7 We summarize evidence of benefit for using exercise for some key chronic conditions, highlight key outcomes shown to be influenced by exercise and provide a guide to the practical howto details for an effective disease-specific exercise. We discuss conditions that were selected for their high disability burden 8 and the strength of the evidence for the effectiveness of exercise in managing the condition.…”

The Completeness Of Intervention Descriptions In Randomised Trials Of Supervised Exercise Training In Peripheral Arterial Disease

“…For Item 5 -Intervention Provider-we required a clear description of who supervised the exercise sessions, including what specific training they received in delivering the intervention, and a description of their Table 1. Brief description of the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) items that were used to assess intervention reporting (adapted from refs [22] and [23]). Describe any strategies, besides direct supervision, which were used to maintain or improve intervention fidelity…”