Exercise Helps Reduce Side Effects From Cancer Treatment

THURSDAY, May 1, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Exercise mitigates adverse outcomes associated with cancer and its treatments, according to a review published online April 29 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Xue-Li Bai, from the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review to examine the comprehensive health impacts of exercise on people with cancer.

Based on 80 articles, all rated as moderate-to-high quality, the researchers found that 260 of the 485 associations (53.6 percent) were statistically significant and 81 (16.7 percent) were supported by high-certainty evidence according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria. There was moderate- to high-certainty evidence that exercise significantly mitigates adverse events associated with cancer and its treatments (e.g., cardiac toxicity, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, cognitive impairment, and dyspnea), compared with usual care or no exercise. In people with cancer, exercise also modulated body composition and biomarkers (e.g., insulin, insulin-like growth factor-1, insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-1, and C-reactive protein) and enhances sleep quality, psychological well-being, physiological functioning, social interaction, and overall quality of life.

“Exercise reduces adverse events and enhances well-being through a range of health outcomes in people with cancer,” the authors write. “This study reinforces the efficacy of incorporating exercise into cancer treatment protocols.”

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