The Impact of Exercise on Fatigue among Patients Undergoing Adjuvant Radiation Therapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Introduction: Cancer is a leading cause of death among all age groups. Globally, cancer patients undergo one or more treatment modules, which often bring about fatigue, depression, anxiety, and muscle weakness. Therefore, this systemic review and meta-analysis aims to investigate randomized control trials (RCTs) on this subject.

Method: We conducted a systemic search of studies published in PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, ClinicalKey, Cochrane Library, and Google scholar, in English language between 2005-2020. Two authors independently appraised the selected RCTs for evaluating the effectiveness of physical exercise on fatigue among patients undergoing adjuvant radiation therapy (RT). This systemic review and meta-analysis was conducted based on the Cochrane risk bias assessment tool, using RevMan 5.3 software.

Results: A total of 1440 participants from 12 trials were involved in the systemic review, 6 trials comprised 718 participants picked for meta-analysis. Physical exercise was found an effective intervention for reducing general fatigue and physical fatigue and some other variables (e.g. anxiety, depression, pain, quality of life, and sleep pattern) among patients undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy in the treatment group as compared to the control group.

Conclusion: Physical exercise is an effective intervention on multidimensional fatigue among patients undergoing adjuvant RT. The studies are registered with PROSPERO and available in online.