Control group design, contamination and drop-out in exercise oncology trials: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Important considerations for exercise trials in cancer patients are contamination and differential drop-out among the control group members that might jeopardize the internal validity. This systematic review provides an overview of different control groups design characteristics of exercise-oncology trials and explores the association with contamination and drop-out rates.

Methods

Randomized controlled exercise-oncology trials from two Cochrane reviews were included. Additionally, a computer-aided search using Medline (Pubmed), Embase and CINAHL was conducted after completion date of the Cochrane reviews. Eligible studies were classified according to three control group design characteristics: the exercise instruction given to controls before start of the study (exer

SUBMITTER: Steins Bisschop CN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4376879 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature