Abstract
Purpose Fatigue is a common and potentially disabling symptom in patients with cancer. It can often be effectively reduced by exercise. Yet, effects of exercise interventions might differ across subgroups. We conducted a meta-analysis using individual patient data of randomized controlled trials (RCT) to investigate moderators of exercise intervention effects on cancer-related fatigue.Methods We used individual patient data from 31 exercise RCT worldwide, representing 4366 patients, of whom 3846 had complete fatigue data. We performed a one-step individual patient data meta-analysis, using linear mixed-effect models to analyze the effects of exercise interventions on fatigue (z score) and to identify demographic, clinical, intervention- and exercise-related moderators. Models were adjusted for baseline fatigue and included a random intercept on study level to account for clustering of patients within studies. We identified potential moderators by testing their interaction with group allocation, using a likelihood ratio test.Results Exercise interventions had statistically significant beneficial effects on fatigue (beta = -0.17; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.22 to -0.12). There was no evidence of moderation by demographic or clinical characteristics. Supervised exercise interventions had significantly larger effects on fatigue than unsupervised exercise interventions (beta (difference) = -0.18; 95% CI -0.28 to -0.08). Supervised interventions with a duration <= 12 wk showed larger effects on fatigue (beta = -0.29; 95% CI, -0.39 to -0.20) than supervised interventions with a longer duration.Conclusions In this individual patient data meta-analysis, we found statistically significant beneficial effects of exercise interventions on fatigue, irrespective of demographic and clinical characteristics. These findings support a role for exercise, preferably supervised exercise interventions, in clinical practice. Reasons for differential effects in duration require further exploration.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 303-314 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise |
Volume | 52 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2020 |
Keywords
- adjuvant chemotherapy
- aerobic exercise
- androgen deprivation therapy
- breast-cancer
- cancer
- cardiorespiratory fitness
- cognitive-behavioral therapy
- exercise
- fatigue
- individual patient data meta-analysis
- physical-exercise
- prostate-cancer
- quality-of-life
- randomized controlled-trial
- FATIGUE
- PHYSICAL-EXERCISE
- RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED-TRIAL
- CANCER
- BREAST-CANCER
- CARDIORESPIRATORY FITNESS
- COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY
- PROSTATE-CANCER
- AEROBIC EXERCISE
- QUALITY-OF-LIFE
- ADJUVANT CHEMOTHERAPY
- EXERCISE
- INDIVIDUAL PATIENT DATA META-ANALYSIS
- ANDROGEN DEPRIVATION THERAPY