Li 2018.

Study characteristics
Methods	RCT, parallel group. Setting: China. Study duration: 12 months
Participants	151 participants Intervention: n = 82, Control: n = 69 Male: n = 126, Female: n = 25 Age, mean and SD: Intervention: 65.1 ± 8.7, Control: 66 ± 9.3 FEV1% predicted, mean and SD: Intervention: 48.7 ± 11.7, Control: 49.2 ± 11.0 Inclusion criteria: Diagnosis of COPD according to GOLD guideline, clinically stable in the first 4 weeks, able to complete the PR programme and questionnaire survey successfully and independently, willing to participate in the PR and maintenance program, and willing to sign informed consent. Exclusion criteria: Participants having asthma, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, or underdiagnosis of cancer; diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or depression and anxious disorder; unavailable for exercise even during the stable stage; having severe dysfunction of the heart, liver, or kidney; and suffering emotional trauma in the previous 6 months such as relative death and divorce. The exit criteria included exacerbation during PR and maintenance, frequent accident events during PR and maintenance, and death.
Interventions	Intervention group: Components: exercise and education home‐based Supervision: Step 1: Home‐visit once every 2 weeks to conduct rehabilitation exercise strategy and provide health education for 2 months. Step 2: Home‐visit every 4 weeks and phone contact once a week for 4 months. Step 3: Phone contact once a week for 6 months. Phone contact once a week for 6 months. Control group: usual care.
Outcomes	Exercise capacity: 6MWD, HRQoL: CAT, mortality and exacerbation rate.
Notes	Grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81270144, 81570084, 30800507), and the Science and Technology Plan Project of Tianjin (13ZCZDSY02000).
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Reported as randomised, but no further information.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Insufficient information. Method of concealment not described.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Insufficient information.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Insufficient information.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	Percentage attrition was 17% for intervention group and 37% in control group. There were more participants lost to follow up in the control group compared to the intervention group
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Unclear risk	No protocol or trial registry information found, unclear if outcomes were reported as planned.
Other bias	Unclear risk	Any self‐reported outcomes are likely to be affected any bias.