Evidence map›Paper›PMID 12947128›Full record

Trial reportThorax2003

Nutritional enhancement of exercise performance in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a randomised controlled trial.

M C Steiner, R L Barton, S J Singh, M D L Morgan

Open access · bronzeAbstract readClinical TrialRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Thorax, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
49citing papers in PubMed, 10 pooled it
9.0field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

49 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 196 citations in OpenAlex.

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  5. Pulmonary rehabilitation for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015
    Pooled it
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  11. Trial
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  15. Review
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  17. A Proposed Checklist for Optimizing COPD Patient Discharge Processes in Italian Internal Medicine Wards.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease · 2026
    Review
  18. Medical nutrition therapy in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A narrative review.Nutrition in clinical practice : official publication of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition · 2025
    Review
  19. Review
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

M C SteinerInstitute for Lung Health, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester LE3 9QP, UK. michael.steiner@uhl-tr.nhs.uk
R L Barton
S J Singh
M D L Morgan
Glenfield Hospital · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPulmonary rehabilitation is effective in improving exercise performance and health status in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the role of nutritional support in the enhancement of the benefits of exercise training has not been explored. A double blind, randomised, controlled trial of carbohydrate supplementation was undertaken in patients attending outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation.

methods85 patients with COPD were randomised to receive a 570 kcal carbohydrate rich supplement or a non-nutritive placebo daily for the duration of a 7 week outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation programme. Primary outcome measures were peak and submaximal exercise performance using the shuttle walk tests. Changes in health status, body composition, muscle strength, and dietary macronutrient intake were also measured.

resultsPatients in both the supplement and placebo groups increased shuttle walking performance and health status significantly. There was no statistically significant difference between treatment groups in these outcomes. Patients receiving placebo lost weight whereas supplemented patients gained weight. In well nourished patients (BMI >19 kg/m(2)) improvement in incremental shuttle performance was significantly greater in the supplemented group (mean difference between groups: 27 (95% CI 1 to 53) m, p<0.05). Increases in incremental shuttle performance correlated with increases in total carbohydrate intake.

conclusionsWhen universally prescribed, carbohydrate supplementation does not enhance the rehabilitation of patients with COPD. This study suggests that exercise training results in negative energy balance that can be overcome by supplementation and that, in selected patients, this may improve the outcome of training. The finding of benefit in well nourished patients may suggest a role for nutritional supplementation beyond the treatment of weight loss in COPD.

Indexed as

AgedAmbulatory CareBody CompositionBody Mass IndexBody WeightDietary CarbohydratesDietary SupplementsDouble-Blind MethodEnergy IntakeExerciseExercise TherapyExercise ToleranceFemaleHealth StatusHumansMaleDietary Carbohydrates

Identifiers

PMID12947128
PMCPMC1746806
OpenAlexW2154638299

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.