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Physical exercise and quality of life in patients with prostate cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis

Supportive Care in Cancer volume 29, pages 4911–4919 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Prostate cancer leads to worse quality of life due to treatment and consequences of disease; benefits of physical exercise remain unclear on the improvement of quality of life in this population. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of physical exercise in improving quality of life in patients with prostate cancer.

Methods

A systematic review and meta-analysis was carried out. For the search of studies, we used electronics databases such as Cochrane Library, MEDLINE via PUBMED, Regional Health Portal, and EMBASE, without language restrictions or year of publication. The descriptors used were as follows: “prostatic neoplasms,” “exercise,” and “quality of life.” The risk analysis of bias in the meta-analysis was based on the Cochrane Collaboration Tool. For statistical analysis, the fixed effects model was used. Randomized controlled trials were included, which had a sample of patients with stage I–IV prostate cancer and that the intervention was aerobic physical exercise (AE) or resistance physical exercise (RE) or combined AE and RE.

Results

Five thousand six hundred nineteen studies were identified, but only 12 studies were selected. The quality of life of the patients was measured using instruments (SF 36, EORTC, AQoL-8D, IPSS and FACT-P), which served to divide the studies in groups where they presented the same instrument used. The analysis carried out shows that the quality of life of patients with prostate cancer submitted to aerobic training regimens had a protective effect in relation to the others.

Conclusion

Most studies show an improvement in the quality of life of patients when they practice physical exercise, perceived by increasing the score of the instrument in question. However, methodological and heterogeneous differences between the studies increase the analysis bias.

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Data Availability

All data and materials were submitted for publication.

Code availability

The analyses were performed with RevMan 5 (Cochrane Collaboration’s).

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Affiliations

  1. State University of Pará, Campus VIII/Marabá, Av. Hiléia, Agrópolis do Incra s/n - Amapá, Marabá, PA, 68502-100, Brazil

    Júlio Araújo Rendeiro, Cesar Augusto Medeiros Paiva Rodrigues & Katiane da Costa Cunha

  2. State University of Pará, Campus II/Belém, Tv. Perebebuí 2623, Marco, PA, 66095-661, Brazil

    Letícia de Barros Rocha & Rodrigo Santiago Barbosa Rocha

  3. Federal University of Goiás, Campus Jatobá BR 364 km 195 - Setor Parque Industrial n° 3800, Jataí, GO, 75801-615, Brazil

    Marianne Lucena da Silva

Authors
  1. Júlio Araújo Rendeiro
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  2. Cesar Augusto Medeiros Paiva Rodrigues
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  3. Letícia de Barros Rocha
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  4. Rodrigo Santiago Barbosa Rocha
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  5. Marianne Lucena da Silva
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  6. Katiane da Costa Cunha
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Contributions

All authors were involved in the design of the study. KCC, MLS, and RSBR coordinated the study. KCC, MLS, JAR, CAMPR, and LBR performed the data analyses. LBR and RSBR drafted the manuscript. All authors critically revised the manuscript and read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Rodrigo Santiago Barbosa Rocha.

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Rendeiro, J.A., Rodrigues, C.A.M.P., de Barros Rocha, L. et al. Physical exercise and quality of life in patients with prostate cancer: systematic review and meta-analysis. Support Care Cancer 29, 4911–4919 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06095-y

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Keywords

  • Prostatic neoplasms
  • Exercise, Quality of life