Home-based supervised exercise versus hospital-based supervised exercise or unsupervised walk advice as treatment for intermittent claudication: A systematic review

9 studies (7 randomized control trials, 2 non-randomized control trials) comparing a home-based, supervised exercise program (HET) to either a hospital-based, supervised exercise program (SET) or to simple, unsupervised "go home and walk" advice (GHWA) to treat intermittent claudication were included in this systematic review. The purpose of the review was to determine if a home-based exercise program benefited patient walking capacity and quality of life more than the comparative treatments. Qualitative analysis found HET to provide generally better results compared to GHWA. When compared to SET, HET showed somewhat worse results for pain-free walking capacity and health-related quality of life, but better daily life walking capacity. Outcomes were inconsistent across studies.