Figure 3

Effect of supplemental oxygen on exercise capacity. The forest plot shows the results from five trials comparing respiratory rehabilitation with and without oxygen. Walking tests, incremental and constant work rate exercise tests were used to assess the additional effect of supplemental oxygen during exercise. The x-axis represents the difference in change scores between study groups with negative values favoring exercise on room air and positive values favoring exercise with supplemental oxygen. A difference of 0 means that both study groups changed to the same amount. Boxes with 95% confidence intervals represent point estimates for the difference between the walking distance and maximum exercise capacity change scores (from baseline to follow-up) of the study groups. Dotted lines represent the minimal important difference of the six-minute walking distance (53 meters). On the right of the forest plot, point estimates for differences between groups and 95% confidence intervals are shown.