Authors' objectives:

1. What is the evidence that physical activity interventions alone, or combined with diet modification or smoking cessation, are effective in helping individuals sustainably increase their aerobic physical activity? - Is the effectiveness of theoretically based interventions different? - Do hypothesized moderators affect the results of these interventions? - Do these interventions affect theoretically hypothesized mediators? - In these interventions, is there a relationship between changes in theoretically hypothesized mediators and changes in physical activity?

2. What is the evidence that physical activity interventions, alone or combined with diet modification or smoking cessation, are effective in helping cancer survivors improve their psychosocial or physiological outcomes?

Authors' results and conclusions: The range of populations, interventions, and outcomes in the included studies, as well as inadequate information provided, did not allow pooling of studies. Results were examined semi-quantitatively using whether a study was positive, significant, and, when possible, its effect size. Forty-five percent of the studies had at least one statistically significant outcome; 5.9 percent had an effect size greater than .8 and 5.9 percent were between .5 and .8. There were no clear patterns in results by setting, intensity, interventions using theory, combined interventions, and those that addressed accessibility, possibly due to the small number of studies. It was not possible to draw conclusions about mediators and moderators. Physical activity interventions in the cancer survivor populations were found to have multiple beneficial effects. The most consistent and strong findings were positive effects on vigor/vitality, cardiorespiratory fitness, quality of life, depression, anxiety, and fatigue.

Authors' recommendations: Overall, this literature is positive, but the relative magnitude of the effect is difficult to judge given the wide range of outcomes examined. The field would benefit from standardized measures and more studies examining longer outcomes. The 24 interventions reviewed indicate that physical activity is safe for cancer survivors and consistently results in improved physiologic and psychosocial outcomes. Recommendations for moving this field of research forward are provided in this report.

Authors' methods: Systematic review

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/tp/pacantp.htm

Year Published: 2004

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: United States

Organisation Name: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Contact Address: Center for Outcomes and Evidence Technology Assessment Program, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, MD 20850, USA. Tel: +1 301 427 1610; Fax: +1 301 427 1639;

Contact Name: martin.erlichman@ahrq.hhs.gov

Contact Email: martin.erlichman@ahrq.hhs.gov

Copyright: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)