Table 3
Synthesis of nine studies for the effect of knee joint loading exercise on articular cartilage
| Stage | Author and year of study | Between-group difference | Within-group difference | Risk of bias summary | ||||||||||||||
| Morphometry | Morphology | Composition | Morphometry | Morphology | Composition | |||||||||||||
| Thickness | Volume | Defects | GAG | Collagen | Thickness | Volume | Defects | GAG | Collagen | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | ||
| Increased OA risk | Landsmeer et al 36 2016 | = | = |
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| Roos and Dahlberg22 2005 | + | + |
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| OA | Armagan et al 34 2015 | = | + |
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| Dincer et al 32 2016 | = | = | = | + |
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| Henriksen et al 35 2014 | = | = |
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| Hunter et al 33 2015 | = | = | = | = |
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| Multanen et al 37 2014 | = | = | + | = |
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| Koli et al 40 2015 | + | + | ||||||||||||||||
| Munukka et al 38 2016 | − | + | − | + |
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| Ochiai et al 39 2014 | = | = |
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‘+’, Positive effect of exercise on cartilage; ‘−’, negative effect of exercise on cartilage; ‘=’, no effect of exercise on cartilage; A, random sequence generation (selection bias); B, allocation concealment (selection bias); C, blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias); D, blinding of outcome data (detection bias); E, incomplete outcome data (attrition bias); F, selective reporting (reporting bias); G, other bias.
GAG, glycosaminoglycans; OA, osteoarthritis.