Ganderton 2013.

Methods	Study design: RCT Study grouping: Parallel group
Participants	Baseline characteristics Exercise Number enrolled: 5 Gender (male/female): 0/5 Age (years): 51 (40–53) Body Mass Index: 26 (23–41) Haemodynamics: mPAP (mmHG, RHC): 23 (19‐29) Haemodynamics: PVR (Dynes, RHC): FVC (% predicted): 98 (92–102) NYHA WHO Functional Class (I/II/III/IV): 0/3/2/0 Medications (single/double/triple): 3/2 Median sessions 31 of 26 Control Number enrolled: 5 Gender (male/female): 1/4 Age (years): 53 (42–57) Body Mass Index: 28 (26–31) Haemodynamics: mPAP (mmHG, RHC): 49 (20‐65) Haemodynamics: PVR (Dynes, RHC): FVC (% predicted): 78 (72–110) NYHA Functional Class (I/II/III/IV): 0/3/2/0 Medications (single/double/triple): 3/2 Included criteria: participants were included in the study if they had a confirmed diagnosis of idiopathic PAH, familial PAH or PAH associated with connective tissue disorders, based on elevated pulmonary artery pressures (> 25 mmHg at rest or > 30 mmHg during exercise) measured by right heart catheterisation; were medically stable and had been on PAH‐specific pharmaceutical therapy for 3 months prior to enrolment into the study; were in WHO functional class II or III; and were willing to complete the 12‐week supervised and 12‐week home exercise training programmes. Excluded criteria: participants were excluded if they had: resting hypoxaemia requiring supplemental oxygen therapy; significant musculoskeletal disease, claudication pain, neurological or cognitive impairment, psychiatric/psychological or mood disorders that may have affected their ability to undertake exercise testing or training; a history of moderate or severe chronic lung disease; cardiac disease associated with cardiac failure, poorly controlled angina, unstable cardiac rhythm; participated in a supervised exercise training programme within the last 12 months Pretreatment: nil
Interventions	Intervention characteristics Exercise Setting: outpatient Components: exercise only Training dose (frequency number per week): 3 times per week, 12 weeks Training dose (duration ‐ min): 60 min class Training dose (intensity): 12 weeks. "Intensity for the lower limb endurance exercises will be prescribed with the aim of achieving 60‐70% HR max (based on age predicted maximum,220‐age [37]), while maintaining SpO2 ≥ 92% and symptom intensity (Borg CR10 dyspnoea < 4 and RPE < 4). Exercise intensity will be progressed, based on the individual’s response to training to maintain HR within the target HR range." Training dose (mode): lower limb endurance training (walking and cycling). Lower limb functional strength training (step ups and sit to stands) and endurance training of the upper limbs Education (total hours): 0 Control Training dose (frequency number per week): nil Training dose (duration ‐ min): nil Training dose (intensity): nil Training dose (mode): nil Education (total hours): 0
Outcomes	6MWD VO2peak Wpeak Anaerobic threshold HRQoL (SF‐36): Physical functioning HRQoL (Sf‐36): Role physical HRQoL (SF36): Bodily pain HRQoL (SF‐36): General health HRQoL (SF‐36): Vitality HRQoL (SF‐36): Social function HRQoL (SF‐36): Role emotional HRQoL (SF‐36): Mental health HRQol (CAMPHOR): Symptoms HRQol (CAMPHOR): Activities HRQol (CAMPHOR): QoL Morbidity Disease progression Symptoms precluding training Discontinued training NYHA class HRQoL: Physical summary score (SF‐36) HRQoL: Mental summary score (SF‐36) Assessed at baseline, 12 weeks (post intervention) and 24 weeks (follow‐up)
Identification	Sponsorship source: Advanced Lung Disease Unit at Royal Perth Hospital and the Lung Institute of Western Australia Country: Australia Setting: Outpatient, hospital Comments: Author's name: Louise Ganderton Institution: Curtin University Email: louise.ganderton@health.wa.gov.au Address: School of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney
Notes	Protocol paper published: Ganderton 2011 Thesis available: http://espace.library.curtin.edu.au:80/R?func=dbin‐jump‐full&local_base=gen01‐era02&object_id=198083
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	From thesis: "Permuted block randomisation with block sizes of four was used to generate a randomisation chart. Fourteen blocks were created in total using a web‐based research randomiser."
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not specified
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Not possible to blind participants to intervention
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	From thesis: "The primary investigator (LG) carried out all assessments at baseline, 12 weeks and 24 weeks and was blinded to the participants group allocation...The physiotherapists responsible for conducting the exercise training sessions were not involved in any of the formal assessments"
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Data available on all recruited participants for ITT. However planned to enrol 34 and only recruited 10
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	All outcomes reported
Other bias	Low risk