Sweegers MG, et al. - In this study, authors researched the impacts of exercise on quality of life (QoL) and physical function (PF) in patients with cancer and studied differences in impacts between different intervention-related and exercise-related characteristics. The outcome of the current study showed that the exercise interventions have statistically significant and small clinical benefit on self-reported QoL and PF in patients with cancer particularly when supervised. Unsupervised exercise intervention impacts on PF were larger when prescribed at a higher weekly energy expenditure.

Methods

• For this study, they searched four electronic databases to identify randomised controlled trials exploring exercise impacts on QoL and PF in patients with cancer.
• Pooled impacts (Hedges’ g) were figured utilizing Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software.
• Subgroup analyses were conducted based on intervention dimensions, including timing, duration and delivery mode, and exercise dimensions, including frequency, intensity, type and time (FITT factors).

Results

• In this study, 74 exercise arms were included.
• Patients who were randomised to exercise interventions had significantly improved QoL (g=0.15, 95% CI (0.10 to 0.20), n=67 exercise arms) and PF (g=0.21, 95% CI (0.15 to 0.27), n=59 exercise arms) compared with patients in control groups.
• They found a significant between-group difference for exercise delivery mode, with significant beneficial effects for supervised exercise interventions (g=0.20, 95% CI (0.14 to 0.26) for QoL and g=0.27, 95% CI (0.20 to 0.33) for PF), but not for unsupervised interventions (g=0.04, 95% CI (-0.06 to 0.13) for QoL and g=0.09, 95% CI (-0.01 to 0.19) for PF).
• There were no statistically significant differences in intervention effects for variations in intervention timing, duration or exercise FITT factors.
• Unsupervised exercise with higher weekly energy expenditure was more effective than unsupervised exercise with lower energy expenditure (z=2.34, p=0.02).