Combined Nutritional and Exercise Interventions for Cachexia in Chronic Diseases: A Systematic Review and...

Area of Science:

• Medical Research
• Clinical Nutrition
• Exercise Physiology

Background:

• Cachexia is characterized by weight loss and muscle mass reduction in chronic diseases.
• Inflammation is a key factor in cachexia development.
• Combined nutrition and exercise interventions may mitigate cachexia, but their impact is unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of combined nutritional and exercise interventions for cachexia in patients with chronic diseases.

Main Methods:

• Searched multiple databases up to December 2024 for intervention and observational studies.
• Included studies compared combined interventions with control conditions (usual care or unimodal interventions).
• Assessed outcomes included body weight, body composition, mortality, physical function, and quality of life.

Main Results:

• Five studies involving cancer patients met inclusion criteria.
• Evidence for combined interventions' impact on mortality is of very low certainty (OR 1.15, 95% CI 0.13-9.97).
• Meta-analyses for other outcomes were not possible due to sparse and heterogeneous data.

Conclusions:

• Current evidence for combined nutritional and exercise interventions in cachexia is of very low certainty.
• No high-quality evidence supports their effectiveness; findings are inconsistent.
• Rigorous trials and core outcome sets are needed; ongoing trial results are pending.