Péloquin 1999

Methods	Randomised controlled trial.
Participants	Inclusion criteria: aged > 50 years with knee OA. Exclusion criteria: not expecting to be absent from the city for > 2 weeks; having independent non‐institutional lifestyle, not having intra‐articular steroid or visco‐elastic device injections within 2 months preceding intervention period; stable regimen using analgesics or non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs ≥ 2 weeks before beginning of intervention. Country: Canada. Sample number: IG: 59; CG: 65. Mean age: 66 years. Progress Plus: 70% women; married or living as married 61%; divorced separated 5%; never married: 15%.
Interventions	Provider(s): not stated. Training: yes. Setting: not stated. Content: aerobic strength, stretching and strengthening exercises. Length/intensity: 3 × 1‐hour session a week for 12 weeks. Control: usual treatment/care, with assignment, continued usual activities and attended 1‐hour education/information session twice a month.
Outcomes	At 12 weeks: pain (Doyle's Joint Index); function (AIMS 2).
Notes
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Blocked random number tables, stratified according to disease severity.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	High risk	No further information provided.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	High risk	Unlikely that participants and providers were unaware of treatment allocation.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Blinded outcome assessment.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Attrition: IG: 14.4% (10/69); CG: 4.4% (3/68). Breakdown of participants lost to follow‐up by group not reported. Authors described medical conditions and lack of time as most common reason for dropout. 1 person withdrew after knee inflammation. Reported difference included dropouts: having a lower educational level, more difficulty performing household tasks, fewer social activities and more joint pain and were more likely to be separated or divorced. No ITT analysis reported.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	Selective outcome not apparent.
Other bias	Low risk	No other bias detected.