Xu SH, Xu H, Xiao KW, Mao SJ. Exercise rehabilitation on patients with non-small cell lung cancer: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. World J Clin Cases 2025; 13(11): 100161 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i11.100161]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Kai-Wen Xiao, PhD, Department of Sports, Gansu Vocational College of Communications, No. 128 Qiu Jiawan, An’ning District, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu Province, China. 941295041@qq.com
Research Domain of This Article
Sport Sciences
Article-Type of This Article
Meta-Analysis
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Apr 16, 2025; 13(11): 100161 Published online Apr 16, 2025. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i11.100161
Exercise rehabilitation on patients with non-small cell lung cancer: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Sheng-Hui Xu, Hong Xu, Kai-Wen Xiao, Su-Jie Mao
Sheng-Hui Xu, Hong Xu, Kai-Wen Xiao, Department of Sports, Gansu Vocational College of Communications, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu Province, China
Su-Jie Mao, Department of Sports, Harbin Sports University, Harbin 150008, Heilongjiang Province, China
Co-corresponding authors: Hong Xu and Kai-Wen Xiao.
Author contributions: Xu SH, Xu H, and Mao SJ acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the article; Xu H conception and design of the study, critical revision; Xu SH and Xu H contributed equally to this article, they are the co-first authors of this manuscript; Xiao KW interpretation of data, revising the article; and all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final approval the manuscript.
Supported by the Youth Doctor Support Project of the Education Department of Gansu Province, No. 2024QB-100.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Kai-Wen Xiao, PhD, Department of Sports, Gansu Vocational College of Communications, No. 128 Qiu Jiawan, An’ning District, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu Province, China. 941295041@qq.com
Received: August 13, 2024 Revised: November 19, 2024 Accepted: December 16, 2024 Published online: April 16, 2025 Processing time: 134 Days and 23.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Lung cancer is one of the most common and deadly cancers worldwide. As the disease progresses and due to the side effects of treatment, patients’ physical activity significantly decreases.
AIM
To systematically review and conduct a meta-analysis on the effects of exercise rehabilitation on the physical activity of lung cancer patients and determine the best implementation methods to provide clinical guidance.
METHODS
Literature was searched through multiple electronic databases. A random effects model was used to combine effect sizes through standardized mean difference (SMD). The Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to assess the quality of the literature, sensitivity analysis was used to ensure the robustness of the results, and Egger’s test was used to detect publication bias and asymmetry.
RESULTS
A total of 11 studies involving 541 patients were included in this study. The physical endurance, muscle function and cardiopulmonary function of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients were evaluated. The overall effect size of the six-minute walk test (6MWT) was not statistically significant. However, subgroup analysis found that endurance significantly improved when exercise duration exceeded 0.5 hours (P ≤ 0.05). In terms of muscle function, the overall effect size was SMD = 0.619. Subgroup analysis showed that strength training, respiratory training, and cross-training (XT) significantly improved muscle function. Exercise rehabilitation significantly enhanced cardiopulmonary endurance (SMD = 0.856, P = 0.002), and the effect was better when the single exercise duration was more than 1 hour, age was over 65 years, and the intervention period was more than 3 months.
CONCLUSION
Exercise rehabilitation effectively improved muscle function in NSCLC patients, especially strength training, respiratory training, and cross-training. Cardiopulmonary function also showed improvement, particularly when exercise duration exceeded 1 hour, age was ≥ 65 years, and the intervention period was more than 3 months. A single exercise duration of more than 0.5 hours can enhance patients’ physical endurance. Appropriately increasing exercise duration and selecting suitable exercise forms can effectively improve the physical activity of NSCLC patients.
Core Tip: This study conducted a meta-analysis on the effects of exercise rehabilitation for lung cancer patients. It found that exercise, especially strength, respiratory, and cross-training, significantly improved muscle function. Cardiopulmonary function also improved, particularly with exercise exceeding 1 hour. A single exercise duration over 0.5 hours enhanced physical endurance. Increasing exercise duration and choosing suitable forms can improve non-small cell lung cancer patients’ activity.
