• Ya-Jing Chen, Xiu-Xia Li, Hai-Kun Ma, Xu Zhang, Bang-Wei Wang, Tao-Tao Guo, Ya Xiao, Zhi-Tong Bing, Long Ge, Ke-Hu Yang, and Xue-Mei Han.
• Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China; Evidence-Based Social Science Center, School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China.
• J Pain Symptom Manage. 2020 Mar 1; 59 (3): 734-749.e10.

ContextPatients with advanced-stage cancer often suffer many physical and psychological symptoms. Exercise has been shown to improve quality of life (QoL), decrease cancer-related symptoms, and maintain or improve functional status in cancer survivors or patients with early stage cancer. However, the effect of exercise on these outcomes in patients with advanced-stage cancer is unclear.ObjectivesThis meta-analysis aimed to assess the effectiveness of exercise interventions for patients with advanced-stage cancer in improving cancer-related symptoms and functional status outcomes.MethodsWe conducted a comprehensive literature search in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Web of Science from their inception to February 3, 2019, to include randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing exercise and usual care for improving outcomes in patients with advanced-stage cancer. Two reviewers independently screened the studies, extracted data of interest, and assessed the risk of bias of individual RCTs using the Cochrane Handbook, Version 5.1.0.ResultsAbout 15 RCTs enrolling 1208 patients were included. Compared with usual care, exercise showed a significant improvement in QoL (standardized mean difference [SMD] 0.22; 95% CI 0.06-0.38; P = 0.009), fatigue (SMD -0.25; 95% CI -0.45 to -0.04; P = 0.02), insomnia (SMD -0.36; 95% CI -0.56 to -0.17; P = 0.0002), physical function (SMD 0.22; 95% CI 0.05-0.38; P = 0.009), social function (SMD 0.18; 95% CI 0.02-0.34; P = 0.03), and dyspnea reduction (SMD -0.18; 95% CI -0.34 to -0.01; P = 0.03).ConclusionExercise serves as an effective intervention to improve QoL and alleviate fatigue, insomnia, dyspnea, and physical and social functions for patients with advanced-stage cancer.Copyright © 2019 American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

14 keywords...

hide…