Figure 3

Illustration of the confidence interval approach to interpret results from randomised trials. The horizontal line indicates the difference between CRQ change scores between study groups. ± 0.5 points represent the predefined boundaries of equivalence. If the whole confidence interval is on the right of 0.5 points, interval exercise is not inferior to continuous exercise. If the whole confidence interval is within boundaries the two exercise protocols are of clinically equivalent effectiveness (upper three confidence intervals). Note that there can be a statistically significant difference between study groups but without any clinical relevance.