Nevertheless , there was " low-level " evidence that HEPs can improve walking capacity and quality of life in patients with intermittent claudication when compared with baseline or in comparison to usual care/observation control .
In addition , improvements with  HEPs  may be inferior to those evoked by supervised exercise training .
We aim ed to conduct a systematic review of the evidence for structured , home-based exercise programmes ( HEPs ) in patients with intermittent claudication .
GRADE guidelines: 3. Rating the quality of evidence.
This article introduces the approach of GRADE to rating  quality of evidence .  GRADE specifies four categories-high , moderate , low , and very low-that are applied to a body of evidence , not to individual studies . In the context of a systematic review , quality reflects our confidence that the estimates of the effect are correct . In the context of recommendations , quality reflects our confidence that the effect estimates are adequate to support a particular recommendation . R and omized trials begin as high- quality evidence , observational studies as low quality . " Quality " as used in GRADE means more than risk of bias and so may also be compromised by imprecision , inconsistency , indirectness of study results , and publication bias . In addition , several factors can increase our confidence in an estimate of effect . GRADE provides a systematic approach for considering and reporting each of these factors . GRADE separates the process of assessing quality of evidence from the process of making recommendations . Judgments about the strength of a recommendation depend on more than just the quality of evidence
Nevertheless , there was " low-level " evidence that HEPs can improve walking capacity and quality of life in patients with intermittent claudication when compared with baseline or in comparison to usual care/observation control .
In addition , improvements with  HEPs  may be inferior to those evoked by supervised exercise training .
We aim ed to conduct a systematic review of the evidence for structured , home-based exercise programmes ( HEPs ) in patients with intermittent claudication .