Table 1 Reasons of records exclusion through the 3 stages of study selection strategy
Stage of study selection | Â | Reason of exclusion | Â | Number of excluded records |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Stage one | Title relevancy | Irrelevant participants’ diagnosis (n = 15) | Heart failure | 10 |
|  |  |  | Parkinson’s disease | 1 |
| Â | Â | Â | Spinal cord injury | 1 |
| Â | Â | Â | Stroke | 1 |
| Â | Â | Â | metabolic disorders | 1 |
| Â | Â | Â | Atrial fibrillation | 1 |
|  |  | Irrelevant participants’ age ( n = 3) | Old age only | 2 |
| Â | Â | Â | Pediatric | 1 |
|  |  | Irrelevant type of interventions ( n = 4) | Exercise testing protocol | 1 |
| Â | Â | Â | Weight loss protocol | 1 |
| Â | Â | Â | Interval training | 1 |
| Â | Â | Â | Inspiratory muscle training | 1 |
|  |  | Irrelevant Language ( n = 2) | French language | 1 |
| Â | Â | Â | Icelandic language | 1 |
|  | Publication Date | Outdating (1989–2009) |  | 10 |
| Â | Total | Â | Â | 34 |
Stage two | Relevancy of Abstract | Irrelevant participants’ age | Old age | 1 |
| Â | Â | Irrelevant study design | Quasi-experimental design | 1 |
Stage three | Publication Status | Inaccessibility to full free articles | Â | Â 3 |
| Â | Grand total | Â | Â | 39 |