Letter to the editor regarding "Clinical effectiveness and safety of powered exoskeleton-assisted walking in patients with spinal cord injury: systematic review with meta-analysis"

Abstract

Marcel P Dijkers,1 Katherine G Akers,2 Sujay S Galen,3 Diane E Patzer,4 Phuong T Vu41Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Wayne State University, Detroit, 2Shiffman Medical Library, Wayne State University, Detroit, 3Physical Therapy Program, Wayne State University, Detroit, 4Center for Spinal Cord Injury Recovery, Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan, Detroit, MI, USAIn the article “Clinical effectiveness and safety of powered exoskeleton-assisted walking in patients with spinal cord injury: systematic review with meta-analysis”, published in the March issue of Medical Devices: Evidence and Research, Miller et al1 present a meta-analysis of the clinical effectiveness and safety of powered exoskeletons for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. A close examination of this article shows surprising coincidences, in that two primary studies (references 25 and 33 in the reference list) report the same proportions and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of subjects able to ambulate with an exoskeleton without assistance (Figure 2 of the study), and two different primary studies (references 26 and 28) report the same mean and 95% CIs for the distance (in meters) walked in a 6-minute walk test (Figure 4 of the study).View the original paper by Miller and colleagues.

Keywords

• ambulation
• exoskeletons
• spinal cord injuries