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Updated: Sep 21, 2025
Conducting Maximal and Submaximal Endurance Exercise Testing to Measure Physiological and Biological Responses to Acute Exercise in Humans
Published on: October 17, 2018
Effect of exercise on functional capacity in patients with advanced cancer: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled
Alice Avancini1, Isabella Sperduti2, Anita Borsati3
1Section of Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Verona School of Medicine and Verona University Hospital Trust, Verona, Italy; Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
Purpose:
To determine the impact of exercise on functional capacity, measured through the "Six minutes walking test" (6MWT) in patients with advanced cancer stage.
Methods:
Systematic research on PubMed, Cochrane Library, and SportDiscus was conducted. Randomized controlled trials were eligible if they examined the effect of exercise on 6MWT.
Results:
Overall, a total of ten trials were included in the primary analysis. Compared to the controls, the exercise intervention was associated with an increase in functional capacity (+20.86 m; CI: -5.90 to 47.72, p = 0.12) although not reaching the statistical significance. Sensitivity analysis revealed an improvement for studies proposing a supervised exercise intervention towards the statistical significance. Few adverse events were associated with exercise training, and the median withdrawals rate was 17%.
Conclusions:
Exercise may have a beneficial role on functional capacity in patients with advanced cancer, especially if supervised.
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