Table 2.
Participant descriptors reported in MS rehabilitation trials since January 2002, by intervention focus.
| Participant descriptors | All intervention types combined (N = 243) | Exercise a (n = 132) | Self-management b (n = 46) | Cognitive (re) training c (n = 36) | Neuro-rehabilitation d (n = 21) | Mixed (n = 8) | Fisher’s exact test | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | p-value | |
| Age | 238 | 97.9% | 129 | 97.7% | 45 | 97.8% | 36 | 100.0% | 20 | 95.2% | 8 | 100.0% | 0.705 |
| Biological sex | 226 | 93.0% | 123 | 93.2% | 44 | 95.7% | 34 | 94.4% | 17 | 81.0% | 8 | 100.0% | 0.306 |
| Education | 74 | 30.5% | 18 | 13.6% | 24 | 52.2% | 30 | 83.3% | 1 | 4.8% | 1 | 12.5% | < 0.001 |
| Employment status | 46 | 18.9% | 12 | 9.1% | 23 | 50.0% | 9 | 25.0% | 1 | 4.8% | 1 | 12.5% | < 0.001 |
| Race and/or ethnicity | 24 | 9.9% | 3 | 2.3% | 15 | 32.6% | 6 | 16.7% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | < 0.001 |
| Living arrangements | 19 | 7.8% | 1 | 0.8% | 13 | 28.3% | 4 | 11.1% | 1 | 4.8% | 0 | 0.0% | < 0.001 |
| Income | 8 | 3.3% | 1 | 0.8% | 7 | 15.2% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 0.001 |
| Type of community (size, or rural/urban) | 1 | 0.4% | 0 | 0.0% | 1 | 2.2% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0.0% | 0.457 |
MS: multiple sclerosis.
a
Includes general exercise, gait, balance, yoga, and stretching.
b
Includes behavior change and patient education.
c
Includes compensatory or remedial training.
d
Includes transcranial stimulation, functional electrical stimulation, sensory modalities, and task-specific training.