Effect of Exercise on the Quality of Life in Cancer Patients: A Meta-Analysis of Different Intervention

Cancer is considered a devastating disease and its treatment act directly on the individual s lifestyle, however, practicing exercises to the point of generating beneficial changes in the quality of life is still divergent. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate whether there is a benefit of physical exercise on the Quality of Life of the patient. Electronic databases (i.e. Pubmed/Medline, ISI Web of Knowledge, Scopus, The Cochrane Library, and Lilacs) forward-citation searches and manual searches of reference lists were used to locate relevant studies up to June 2018. The terms used were “Physical Exercise”, “cancer” and “EORTC QLQ C-30”. Randomized clinical trials in humans with a 10-year cohort and exercise as a form of intervention and improvement in Quality of Life were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis was based on 20 studies, scoring a maximum of 11 points in the PEDRo scale. Where they evaluated the effects of physical exercise on QOL. The present meta-analysis included studies with a diagnosis of breast cancer, esophageal, lung, gynecological, and other unspecified. The main modalities practiced were aerobic exercise, cardiovascular training, resistance training, strength training, gymnastics, 6 min walk, and Pilates. In meta-analysis indicated that comparisons between the intervention and control group had differences in the quality of life of patients during the interventions and after the time of exercise intervention. Our results also demonstrated a large heterogeneity between the effects of physical activities in the EQTC QLQ C-30 results would be most likely due to differences in the type of exercise and the respective periods carried out. Future studies are necessary in order to conclude a causal relationship between the type of exercise and the time of intervention in cancer patients. © JPES.