A systematic review «Wang JJ, Tam KW, Hsiao HY, et al. Effect of Resist...»1 measured the impact of strengthening exercise, strengthening exercise protocols or supervised exercise on fibromyalgia symptoms. Aerobic exercise led to an increase in fibromyalgia-related quality of life (i.e. decrease in total fibromyalgia symptoms) and decrease in pain (relative decrease 41% compared to control).
The level of evidence was downgraded due to lack of blinding of study participants and outcome assessment, inconsistency in findings and imprecision.
Adverse events were not assessed.
| Reference | Study type | Population | Intervention and comparison | Outcomes | Risk of bias |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RCT=randomized controlled trial; SR=systematic review; MA=meta-analysis | |||||
| «Wang JJ, Tam KW, Hsiao HY, et al. Effect of Resist...»1 | SR and MA | Adults with Fibromyalgia | Strengthening exercise vs usual care or wait list or flexibility exercises | Health-related quality of life FIQ), Pain intensity, physical function, adverse events | high |
| Reference | Comments |
|---|---|
| «Wang JJ, Tam KW, Hsiao HY, et al. Effect of Resist...»1 | Participants were not blinded in most studies. Most trials tested supervised exercise programs of from 8 to 21 weeks vs control. |
Results
| Reference | Number of studies and number of patients (I/C) | Follow-up time | Mean (SD) I | Mean (SD) C | Mean difference (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level of evidence: very low The quality of evidence is downgraded due to study limitations, inconsistency and imprecision. I= intervention; C=comparison; CI=confidence interval |
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| «Wang JJ, Tam KW, Hsiao HY, et al. Effect of Resist...»1 | 3 studies (61/58) | 8-21 weeks | not reported | not reported, | -13.68 (-24.55 to -2.80) |
| Reference | Number of studies and number of patients (I/C) | Follow-up time | Mean (SD) I | Mean (SD) C | Mean difference (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level of evidence: very low The quality of evidence is downgraded due to study limitations, inconsistency and imprecision. I= intervention; C=comparison; CI=confidence interval |
|||||
| «Wang JJ, Tam KW, Hsiao HY, et al. Effect of Resist...»1 | 3 studies (57/54) | 8-21 weeks | not reported | 6,39 | -2,63 (-4.63 to -0.63) Relative change – 41% |
| Reference | Number of studies and number of patients (I/C) | Follow-up time | Mean (SD) I | Mean (SD) C | Std. Mean difference (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level of evidence: low The quality of evidence is downgraded due to study limitations and imprecision. I= intervention; C=comparison; CI=confidence interval |
|||||
| «Wang JJ, Tam KW, Hsiao HY, et al. Effect of Resist...»1 | 5 studies (85/81) | 8-21 weeks | not reported | not reported, range | -0.45 (-0.77 to -0.14, favoring exercise |