Review: exercise programmes increase walking times in patients with intermittent claudication
QUESTION: In patients with intermittent claudication (leg pain on walking), do exercise programmes increase walking times?
Data sources
Randomised controlled trials were identified by using Medline, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, handsearches of journals, bibliographies of reviews and identified trials, and contact with principal investigators of trials. The search strategy produced by the Cochrane Review Group on Peripheral Vascular Diseases was used.
Study selection
Trials were included if exercise programmes were compared with control or medical or surgical treatment; participants had self reported or clinically diagnosed intermittent claudication caused by atherosclerotic disease; the exercise programme included any form of leg physical activity (eg, walking or running); and outcomes were provided (treadmill walking distance, time to onset of pain, maximal walking distance, mortality, cardiovascular events, disease progression, indirect tests of disease such as ankle pressure measurements, …
