Each year two published papers from the Journal are recognised, one as Paper of the Year and the other with the Readers’ Choice Award.

As announced in the March issue of the Journal, the 2018 Paper of the Year is ‘Low leisure-based sitting time and being physically active were associated with reduced odds of death and diabetes in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a cohort study’ by Associate Professor Zoe McKeough from The University of Sydney and her colleagues from Sydney and the United Kingdom.

People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) engage in low levels of physical activity, which is associated with adverse health effects. Guidelines for people with COPD encourage them to meet the general physical activity guidelines for adults but advice about sedentary behaviour is lacking. The winning study identified that among people with COPD, adhering to physical activity guidelines and keeping leisure-based sitting time low has a mortality benefit and lowers the odds of developing diabetes.

The evidence generated by the authors is an important step in a pathway of research about promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour in people with chronic disease, therefore adding to recent evidence on this topic.

The Readers’ Choice Award, from papers published in 2018, is ‘Physical exercise improves strength, balance, mobility, and endurance in people with cognitive impairment and dementia: a systematic review’ by Dr Freddy Lam from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and his co- authors from Hong Kong and Yixing.

This winning paper, announced in the latest issue of the Journal, expertly summarises the results of 43 randomised trials, which provided data on a total of 4000 participants. The extensive meta- analyses revealed strong evidence that supervised exercise training improves the performance of people with cognitive impairment or mild-to-moderate dementia on many tests of physical function, including sit to stand, step length, balance, mobility and walking endurance.

The Paper of the Year is awarded to the paper published in the 2018 calendar year that, in the opinion of the Journal’s International Advisory Board, has the best combination of scientific merit and application to the clinical practice of physiotherapy. The winner of the Readers’ Choice Award is based on the number of times the paper published in a given year is downloaded in the six months after its day of publication.

Access these papers, along with all Journal of Physiotherapy content, for free at journal.physio. Follow the Journal on Twitter @JPhysiother and follow the editor, Mark Elkins, @JOP_Editor.