Bertie 1992.

Methods	Study design: parallel RCT Recruitment: patients who were admitted to a single centre after AMI Allocation: not reported Blinding: not reported Randomisation: no information provided Follow‐up(s): after rehabilitation, 4 months, 1‐2 years Description: combined rehabilitation programme
Participants	Baseline characteristics Intervention group Mean age (SD): 52.1 (1.3) Sex (male %): not reported Number of participants: 43 Working before CHD: 31 Control group Mean age (SD): 52.7 (1.3) Sex (male %): not reported Number of participants: 38 Working before CHD: 26 Inclusion criteria: ‐ Exclusion criteria Residing too far from the hospital Uncontrolled heart failure Persistent serious rhythm disturbances requiring treatment at the time of discharge, pacemaker or needed treatment with anti‐arrhythmic drugs for atrial fibrillation Other disabling illness, e.g. severe diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, renal failure Baseline imbalances: ‐ Physically demanding work (i.e. white‐ vs blue‐collar): unknown Severity of CHD: less severe (patients with uncontrolled heart failure excluded)
Interventions	Intervention characteristics Formal outpatient rehabilitation programme at the hospital twice a week Standard pulse‐monitored group exercise commonly used in the physiotherapy of cardiac patients, supervised by a physiotherapist. Pulse was monitored before and after each circuit of 12 exercises, and after a 5‐min interval circuit repeated up to a maximum of 4 circuits Information about improving health such as not smoking and diet Relaxation technique Relatives were not actively encouraged to attend with the participant, nor were they discouraged from attending if they wished to do so Exercises at the gymnasium started in the 3rd week after discharge from the CCU Participants received a video recording of the exercise programme and were encouraged to undertake daily exercises at home by following the instructions on the recording Duration of intervention: 4 weeks Providers: exercises were supervised by a physiotherapist Control group Standard hospital care
Outcomes	Proportion at work at < 6 months (short term): 4 months Proportion at work at > 12 months to < 5 years (long term): 1‐2 years Well‐being and anxiety about health Adverse events (mortality, MI)
Identification	Sponsorship source: The British Heart Foundation and the Chest, Heart and Stroke Association Country: UK Setting: single centre: the Plymouth cardiac care unit Possible conflicts of interest: no information provided Ethics committee approval: no information provided
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Quote: “On their final hospital day, 110 patients who had suffered acute myocardial infarction and had been admitted to the Plymouth coronary care unit were randomised into two groups…”. No further information provided
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	No information provided
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Due to the nature of the study, blinding of participants was not possible.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	None reported. Employment status was assessed with a questionnaire filled out by the study participants (with help from a physiotherapist if necessary). Study participants were aware of their group allocation, which could have affected reporting.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	Quote: “Patients were withdrawn from the study because of death, increasing angina, coronary artery surgery, reinfarction at their own request, and failure to complete assessments 2 or 4.” No ITT analysis was conducted; however, attrition: 28% of controls and 25% of exercise group was similar.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	Unable to determine, no study protocol was available
Other bias	Unclear risk	None identified