Excluded studies
Most of the studies identified were excluded for several reasons.
The most common reason was that they were not randomized
controlled trials (n = 109) and/or did not have an exercise-training
program as part of their intervention (n = 91). A full log of
reasons for exclusion of studies was tabulated (’Characteristics of
excluded studies’) and provided in a flow diagram (Figure 1). Four
of five abstracts were later published in full and included in the
review. An attempt was made to contact the author of the fifth
abstract (Patessio 1996) to determine if it was fully published or if
unpublished data were available, but the author could not find the
complete data. One paper was written in German (Fichter 1999)
and was translated