4. Further characteristics of included reviews.
| Review | Number of trials included | Total number of participants | Gender distribution | Participants ages |
| Bartels 2007 | 6 (4 exercise vs no exercise) | 800 (674 exercise vs no exercise) | 50% to 86% Female | Means ranged from 66 to 71 yr |
| Bidonde 2014 | 16 (9 exercise vs no exercise) | 881 (519 exercise vs no exercise) | 513 female, 6 male | Means ranged from 46.3 to 48.3 yr |
| Boldt 2014 | 16 (3 exercise vs no exercise) | 616 (149 exercise vs no exercise) | 115 male, 41 female across 3 studies | Range 19 to 65 yr and mean 35 to 45 yr |
| Brown 2010 | 1 | 36 | 100% female | Not reported |
| Busch 2007 | 34 (in meta‐analysis ‐ strength training vs control: 2; aerobic training vs control: 4) | 2276 total (in meta‐analysis ‐ strength: 47, aerobic: 269) |
96.4% female when reported (in 2197 participants) | Range reported as 27.5 to 60.2 yr |
| Busch 2013 | 5 studies as 7 publications (exercise vs control: 3 publications, 2 studies) | 219 with fibromyalgia (exercise vs control: 81) | 100% female | Not reported |
| Cramp 2013 | 24 (only 6 using physical activity interventions) | 2882 (physical activity interventions: 371) | "A higher percentage of females"… when reported | "Mainly within the fifth decade" |
| Fransen 2014 | 10 | > 549 | 75% to 80% female when reported | 58 to 70 yr (means) when reported |
| Fransen 2015 | 54 | 5362 | When reported 55% to 100% female | When reported mean age 60 to 70 yr |
| Gross 2015a | 27 (16 chronic pain) | 2485 | Not reported | Not reported |
| Han 2004 | 4 (3 RCTs). Pain not reported in any included study | 206 total; pain not reported in any included study | Not reported | Range 38 to 72 yr |
| Hayden 2005 | 61 (43 chronic low back pain) | 6390 (3907 chronic low back pain) | Chronic: 46% male (95% CI 39 to 52) | Chronic: 42 yr (95% CI 40 to 44) |
| Hurkmans 2009 | 8 RCTs (5 exercise vs no‐exercise) | 575 | "Mainly female" | 52 yr |
| Koopman 2015 | 13 (2 exercise vs no exercise) | 675 (68 exercise vs no exercise) ‐ 1 study used 3 arms (no treatment in cold, exercise in cold, exercise in warm; we have excluded the warm exercise arm as cannot compare directly to the control) | ˜ 25% male | Mean 58 and 65 yr |
| Lane 2014 | 30 | 1822 total | Not reported | Mean > 65 yr |
| Lauret 2014 | 5 (0 for exercise vs no exercise) | 184 (0 for exercise vs no exercise) | n/a | n/a |
| Regnaux 2015 | 6 (1 for exercise vs no exercise) only 1 study that had a no exercise control | 656 (102 for exercise vs no exercise) | 79 female | 62.6 yr |
| Saragiotto 2016 | 29 (7 for exercise vs no exercise/minimal intervention) | 2431 (671 for exercise vs no exercise) | "Mixed" | Median 40.9 yr (IQR 11.2) (range 20.8 to 54.8) |
| Silva 2010 | None | None | n/a | n/a |
| van der Heijden 2015 | 31 (10 for exercise vs control) | 1690 | 0% to 100% female; equally distributed across range | Mean 25 to 50 yr |
| Yamato 2015 | 10 (6 exercise vs minimal intervention (control)) | 478 (265 exercise vs control) | 2 trials were all female, the others included both genders | Mean 38 yr (range 22 to 50) |
CI: confidence interval; GP: general practitioner; IQR: interquartile range; OA: osteoarthritis; RCT: randomised controlled trial; ROM: range of motion; wk: week; yr: year.