Meta-analysis of the effects of exercise intervention on quality of life in breast cancer survivors

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women worldwide. Diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer pose an array of physical and psychological threats to the survivors. Exercise interventions may be particularly appropriate for cancer survivors because they have the potential to improve physical and psychological functioning. The review aims to examine the effectiveness of exercise intervention on the quality of life (QOL) of breast cancer survivors. Five databases (Medline, CINAHL, Scopus, The Cochrane Library, and CAJ Full-text Database) were searched from 2003 to July 2013. Clinical controlled trials of exercise interventions for breast cancer survivors who were at least 18 years old and had completed active cancer treatment were included. A total of 25 trials were included in this study, of which 19 were pooled together statistically. Subjects in the exercise interventions had higher overall QOL than subjects in the control group. The standardized mean difference (SMD) for changes in overall general QOL scores was 0.70 (95 % CI 0.21, 1.19). The SMD for changes in cancer-specific QOL scores was 0.38 (95 % CI 0.03, 0.74). For cancer-specific QOL domains, there were positive but non-significant trends in two QOL domains (breast symptoms: Z score = 1.12, p = 0.26; arm symptoms: Z score = 1.32, p = 0.19). This study provides updated findings supporting the idea that exercise interventions have statistically significant effects on overall QOL in breast cancer survivors, as well as positive trends for cancer site-specific QOL domains (breast and arm symptoms).

The Effect of Exercise Training on Mediators of Inflammation in Breast Cancer Survivors: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis

“…The positive effects generated by the meta-analyses for a range of inflammatory mediators justify investigation into the mechanisms underlying these effects so that exercise training exercise can be more precisely prescribed to optimize the prognosis of people with breast cancer. In the interim, exercise training can be encouraged in people during or after breast cancer treatment: because of its known benefits on the problems that cancer induces in physical fitness, function, fatigue, depression, and quality of life (23,24,32,34,35,(48)(49)(50)(51); because of the favorable trends observed in survival with exercise training (38,39); and now also, given the results of this review, because of its positive effects on inflammatory mediators in the tumor microenvironment.…”

Efectividad del ejercicio físico en la fatiga de pacientes con cáncer durante el tratamiento activo: revisión sistemática y metaanálisis

“…Por otra parte, Milne et al 30 obtuvieron igualmente mejoras estadística-mente significativas en la fatiga, calidad de vida, ansiedad y el fitness físico (p < 0,05), y Mutrie et al 31 encontraron que los efectos del ejercicio fí-sico en la fatiga del grupo experimental se mantuvieron durante los seis meses de seguimiento. Estos resultados coinciden con lo reportado en los estudios de Fong et al 37 y Zeng et al 38 , quienes concluyen que la actividad física reduce el cansancio y los síntomas depresivos e incrementa la calidad de vida en mujeres sobrevivientes de cáncer de mama; destacando que el análisis de subgrupo del presente metaanálisis mostró mejoras significativas en la fatiga de pacientes con cáncer de mama. Algunos eventos adversos derivados de las intervenciones con ejercicio físico en pacientes con cáncer sometidos a tratamiento activo fueron reportados en los estudios incluidos.…”

Review systematischer Übersichtsarbeiten zu nicht medikamentösen Interventionen zur Verbesserung der Lebensqualität von Krebsüberlebenden

“…Dreizehn Übersichtsarbeiten behandelten unterschiedliche Tumorgruppen [10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22], in 7 ging es speziell um Brustkrebs [8,9,23,24,25,26,27] und in einer um Prostatakrebs [28]. …”