Fig. 2.

Evidence mapping bubble plot of exercise-based interventions for long-term conditions (LTCs). Y-axis: number of participants included in the selected systematic review. X-axis: categorisation of exercise intervention effect.

• ‘No evidence’: no eligible SRs or RCTs identified

• ‘Evidence of potentially no effect’: all outcomes (of interest) showed no effect + authors concluded no evidence of benefit

• ‘Unclear evidence’: conflicting results for outcomes (of interest) + authors concluded unclear or insufficient evidence of benefit or all outcomes (of interest) showed no benefit, but other LTC specific outcomes showed positive effect, and authors concluded exercise is beneficial

• ‘Evidence of potential positive effect’: all/most outcomes (of interest) showed positive effect and authors concluded that exercise is beneficial.

• NB- positioning within the effect estimate categories does not denote the effect size.

Bubbles: LTC. Bubble size: number of eligible SRs. Bubble colour: red for SR evidence; green for LTCs where only RCT evidence was identified.

LTC, long-term condition; SR, systematic review; RCT, randomised controlled trial; CLD, chronic liver disease; DM, diabetes mellitus; IBS, irritable bowel syndrome; CFS, chronic fatigue syndrome; AF, atrial fibrillation; IBD, inflammatory bowel disease; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; CHD, coronary heart disease; PD, Parkinson's disease; CTD, connective tissue disease; PVD, peripheral vascular disease; PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome; CKD, chronic kidney disease; TIA, transient ischaemic attack; MS, multiple sclerosis.