Exercise interventions for adults with cancer receiving radiation therapy alone

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Exercise Science
• Evidence-Based Medicine

Background:

• Radiation therapy (RT) is a common cancer treatment, often leading to side effects that reduce physical activity and quality of life (QoL).
• Physical exercise is suggested to mitigate cancer treatment side effects, mortality, and recurrence.
• This review focuses on exercise interventions for cancer patients receiving RT alone.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the benefits and harms of adding exercise to standard care for adults with cancer receiving RT alone.
• To compare exercise plus standard care versus standard care alone.

Main Methods:

• Systematic search of multiple databases (CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL) and trial registries up to October 2022.
• Inclusion of three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 130 participants with breast and prostate cancer receiving RT without systemic treatment.
• Assessment of fatigue, QoL, physical performance, psychosocial effects, and adverse events using Cochrane methodology and GRADE approach.

Main Results:

• Exercise may reduce fatigue, with low-certainty evidence across three studies.
• Evidence for exercise improving quality of life is low-certainty, suggesting little to no effect.
• Physical performance showed very low-certainty evidence of improvement in two studies, and no difference in one.
• Psychosocial effects demonstrated very low-certainty evidence of little or no difference.
• No exercise-related adverse events were reported in the included studies.

Conclusions:

• Limited evidence suggests exercise may offer some benefits for cancer patients undergoing RT alone, particularly for fatigue.
• The certainty of evidence for most outcomes (QoL, physical performance, psychosocial effects) is low to very low.
• High-quality research is needed to confirm the benefits and harms of exercise interventions in this population.