Table 3

Study-level and patient-level moderator variables

Study-level moderatorsPatient-level moderators

  • Control group study (yes/no)

  • Number of patients

  • Publication year (of an article)

  • Start of project (year)

  • Approval by an ethics committee as mentioned in the publication (aggregate data only; yes/no)

  • Methodological quality of study

  • Published in an impact factor journal (at time of publication)

  • Sex

  • Age

  • Follow-up treatment after acute care hospital stay (‘Anschlussheilbehandlung’) vs rehabilitation because of chronicity (‘Heilverfahren’)

  • Sick leave immediately preceding inpatient rehabilitation (yes/no and/or days of sick leave)

  • Symptom burden (eg, GOLD-Stage in patients with COPD, NYHA class in patients with chronic heart failure)

  • Baseline value in respective outcome

  • COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; GOLD, Global Initiative of Lung Disease; NYHA, New York Heart Association.