Quantitative Analysis
Since the purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the effects of aerobic exercise on improving aerobic capacity in individuals with stroke, the primary outcome variables of interest were peak VO2 and peak workload. For each selected study, the mean change scores(post-intervention scores – pre-intervention scores) in peak VO2 and peak workload in experimental and control groups were extracted. The baseline standard deviations (SDs) in experimental and control groups were used to calculate the pooled population SD.34 The baseline means and SDs were requested from the respective authors if they were not reported in the article.