Adherence
Supervised exercise interventions significantly improve self-reported quality of life (QoL) and physical function (PF) in patients with cancer during and following treatment, whereas unsupervised exercise does not produce statistically significant benefits for these outcomes.
For cancer patients, supervised exercise programs provide a small but statistically significant boost to quality of life and physical function compared to usual care. If supervision is not possible, unsupervised exercise alone may not significantly improve these self-reported outcomes unless the weekly energy expenditure is kept high. Prioritize supervised programs when available.
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... We 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).
Why this rating
Meta-analysis of 66 RCTs with 74 exercise arms and over 6,500 patients.
Source
Which exercise prescriptions improve quality of life and physical function in patients with cancer during and following treatment? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Maike G. Sweegers et al. · British Journal of Sports Medicine · 2017
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →