Table 2.
The effect of aerobic training versus control on the primary outcome measures, secondary fatigue measures, and fitness parameters.
| T8 |
T16 |
T26 |
T52 |
MD (SE), p
Between-group effect |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT | C | AT | C | AT | C | AT | C | T8 | T16 | T26 | T52 | |
| Primary outcomes | ||||||||||||
| n valid | 43 | 37 | 34 | 39 | 37 | 34 | 33 | 30 | ||||
| CIS20r fatigue (8–56)a | 38.5 (9.8) | 42.5 (9.1) | 37.3 (9.5) | 42.2 (8.8) | 40.2 (9.5) | 40.6 (9.5) | 41.7 (8.3) | 41.2 (11.6) | −3.308 (1.877), p = 0.080 | −4.708 (1.890), p = 0.014* | −0.402 (1.908), p = 0.834 | 1.145 (1.971), p = 0.562 |
| IPA autonomy indoors (0–4)a | 0.7 (0.6) | 0.7 (0.5) | 0.5 (0.6) | 0.7 (0.6) | 0.7 (0.7) | 0.6 (0.6) | 0.8 (0.7) | 0.8 (0.6) | −0.027 (0.087), p = 0.756 | −0.112 (0.088), p = 0.203 | 0.084 (0.091), p = 0.358 | −0.007 (0.093), p = 0.944 |
| IPA family role (0–4)a | 1.4 (0.7) | 1.5 (0.7) | 1.2 (0.8) | 1.4 (0.7) | 1.4 (0.7) | 1.4 (0.7) | 1.3 (0.9) | 1.4 (0.6) | −0.031 (0.121), p = 0.801 | −0.082 (0.122), p = 0.502 | 0.107 (0.125), p = 0.394 | −0.005 (0.127), p = 0.996 |
| IPA autonomy outdoors (0–4)a | 1.4 (0.8) | 1.6 (0.6) | 1.4 (0.8) | 1.6 (0.8) | 1.4 (0.9) | 1.5 (0.7) | 1.5 (0.8) | 1.5 (0.6) | −0.078 (0.125), p = 0.531 | −0.097 (0.125), p = 0.438 | 0.059 (0.128), p = 0.646 | 0.096 (0.129), p = 0.459 |
| IPA social relations (0–4)a | 1.0 (0.6) | 0.9 (0.5) | 0.9 (0.5) | 1.0 (0.6) | 0.9 (0.5) | 0.9 (0.6) | 1.0 (0.5) | 1.0 (0.5) | 0.033 (0.092), p = 0.718 | −0.138 (0.092), p = 0.135 | 0.039 (0.095), p = 0.680 | 0.070 (0.096), p = 0.469 |
| IPA work/education (0–4)a | 1.7 (0.9) | 2.0 (1.0) | 1.7 (0.9) | 1.8 (0.7) | 1.7 (0.9) | 1.9 (0.7) | 1.8 (1.0) | 2.0 (0.9) | 0.005 (0.166), p = 0.974 | 0.225 (0.167), p = 0.181 | 0.133 (0.172), p = 0.441 | 0.168 (0.174), p = 0.337 |
| Secondary outcomes | ||||||||||||
| Fatigue | ||||||||||||
| nvalid | 43 | 37 | 34 | 39 | 37 | 34 | 33 | 30 | ||||
| FSS (1–7)a | 5.1 (1.1) | 5.3 (1.0) | 5.1 (0.9) | 5.2 (1.0) | 5.2 (0.9) | 5.1 (1.1) | 5.2 (1.1) | 5.1 (1.1) | −0.042 (0.170), p = 0.808 | −0.011 (0.173), p = 0.949 | 0.095 (0.176), p = 0.589 | 0.317 (0.180), p = 0.079 |
| MFIS total score(0–84)a | 37.3 (12.7) | 43.8 (12.2) | 38.6 (12.0) | 41.5 (11.9) | 38.3 (13.7) | 34.7 (11.8) | 39.0 (13.4) | 39.9 (11.9) | −3.861 (2.296), p = 0.094 | −1.775 (2.320), p = 0.445 | 3.312 (2.344), p = 0.159 | 0.952 (2.407), p = 0.693 |
| MFIS physical subscale(0–36)a | 18.0 (6.2) | 21.8 (5.7) | 19.0 (5.4) | 20.4 (5.3) | 18.1 (6.2) | 17.8 (6.7) | 18.5 (6.1) | 20.1 (4.8) | −2.038 (1.168), p = 0.083 | −0.711 (1.173), p = 0.545 | 0.586 (1.191), p = 0.623 | −0.760 (1.224), p = 0.535 |
| MFIS cognitive subscale (0–40)a | 16.0 (6.8) | 17.6 (8.9) | 15.9 (7.6) | 17.1 (8.8) | 16.4 (7.8) | 13.8 (7.2) | 17.2 (6.8) | 16.1 (9.1) | −1.330 (1.156). p = 0.252 | −1.164 (1.170), p = 0.321 | 2.056 (1.183), p = 0.084 | 1.391 (1.207), p = 0.251 |
| MFIS psychosocial subscale (0–8)a | 3.4 (1.8) | 4.4 (1.6) | 3.6 (1.4) | 4.1 (1.5) | 3.8 (1.7) | 3.2 (1.8) | 3.4 (1.7) | 3.8 (1.6) | −0.771 (0.325), p = 0.019 | −0.188 (0.329), p = 0.567 | 0.547 (0.335), p = 0.104 | −0.191 (0.342), p = 0.576 |
| CIS20r concentration (5–35)a | 19.2 (6.5) | 20.0 (7.8) | 18.3 (6.8) | 20.3(7.1) | 19.7 (7.3) | 18.8 (7.0) | 20.7 (6.8) | 19.5 (7.7) | −1.301 (1.260), p = 0.303 | −2.458 (1.268), p = 0.054 | −0.314 (1.282), p = 0.807 | 1.037 (1.326), p = 0.435 |
| CIS20r motivation (4–28)a | 13.6 (5.0) | 14.6 (5.7) | 14.6 (4.9) | 15.2 (4.9) | 15.3 (5.9) | 14.7 (6.0) | 14.7 (4.8) | 13.8 (5.7) | −1.231 (0.957), p = 0.200 | −0.583 (0.964), p = 0.546 | −0.204 (0.975), p = 0.834 | 0.345 (1.013), p = 0.734 |
| CIS20r physical activity (3–21)a | 11.6 (5.3) | 14.1 (3.9) | 11.7 (4.9) | 13.2 (4.3) | 12.4 (4.9) | 13.1 (4.2) | 12.0 (3.7) | 13.1 (4.4) | −2.181 (0.854), p = 0.011* | −1.398 (0.859), p = 0.106 | −0.849 (0.868), p = 0.329 | −0.414 (0.901), p = 0.647 |
| Fitness parameters | ||||||||||||
| n valid | 35 | 31 | 27 | 31 | 24 | 33 | 27 | 30 | ||||
| VO2peak (L/min) | 1.78 (0.55) | 1.52 (0.55) | 1.74 (0.59) | 1.58 (0.55) | 1.75 (0.51) | 1.53 (0.59) | 1.68 (0.49) | 1.61 (0.59) | 0.082 (0.080), p = 0.305 | 0.048 (0.082), p = 0.561 | 0.023 (0.082), p = 0.779 | −0.046 (0.082), p = 0.579 |
| VO2peak (mL/kg/min) | 23.5 (6.4) | 20.2 (6.2) | 23.5 (7.4) | 21.4 (6.4) | 22.9 (6.0) | 20.8 (7.0) | 22.3 (5.6) | 21.9 (7.0) | 1.628 (1.046), p = 0.122 | 0.979 (1.075), p = 0.364 | 0.313 (1.083), p = 0.773 | −0.710 (1.085), p = 0.514 |
| VO2peak (%predicted) | 68.2 (17.7) | 63.4 (17.6) | 68.8 (21.9) | 65.7 (18.7) | 67.8 (19.8) | 64.2 (21.8) | 65.5 (16.9) | 66.1 (20.0) | 3.827 (3.038), p = 0.210 | 3.491 (3.135), p = 0.267 | 1.667 (3.163), p = 0.599 | −1.146 (3.165), p = 0.718 |
| Anaerobic threshold (%VO2peak)b | 47.8 (19.2) | 46.5 (14.8) | 45.1 (9.6) | 47.3 (17.4) | 47.1 (14.8) | 46.7 (18.6) | 44.5 (11.4) | 47.2 (13.4) | −0.801 (3.114), p = 0.797 | 0.799 (3.222), p = 0.804 | −3.500 (3.260), p = 0.285 | −5.137 (3.264), p = 0.118 |
| Peak power (W) | 180 (58) | 149 (51) | 180 (61) | 151 (51) | 171 (58) | 150 (53) | 173 (54) | 151 (58) | 11.701 (5.868), p = 0.048* | 8.971 (6.038), p = 0.140 | −1.326 (6.095), p = 0.828 | 1.708 (6.189), p = 0.783 |
AT: aerobic training; C: control condition; MD: mean difference – reflects the between-group difference at that time point; SE: standard error; CIS20r: Checklist Individual Strength; IPA: Impact on Participation and Autonomy questionnaire; FSS: Fatigue Severity Scale; MFIS: Modified Fatigue Impact Scale; VO2peak: peak oxygen uptake.
a
Lower score represents better outcome; T8–T52 represent the time (T) in weeks post-baseline at which the outcome was assessed.
b
The anaerobic threshold is presented relative to the predicted peak oxygen uptake.
*
Significant (p < 0.05) between-group difference at that given visit corrected for baseline and study centre (highlighted in bold).