Table 1.
Characteristics of studies included in the sample
| Study | Population (and number of treatment groups) | Final n in treatment group(s) | QOL measure used in analyses | Post-treatment FUPsa | Analytic designb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adamsen et al. (2003) | Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy (1) | 21 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 1 | Within |
| Adamsen et al. (2009) | Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy (1) | 118 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 1 | RCT |
| Basen-Enquist et al. (2006) | Post-treatment breast cancer survivors (1) | 28 | SF-36 | 1 | RCT |
| Berglund et al. (1994) | Cancer patients (1) | 89 | 2 Global itemsc | 2 | RCT |
| Borst (2005) | Cancer patients (1) | 62 | FACTIT | 1 | Within |
| Burnham & Wilcox (2002) | Breast, colon, and lung cancer patients (1) | 6 | Quality of Life Indexc | 2 | RCT |
| Cadmus et al. (2009) | Breast cancer patients during/after treatment (2) | 25, 37 | FACT-G | 1 | RCT |
| Campbell et al. (2005) | Scottish breast cancer patients (1) | 12 | FACT-G | 1 | Within |
| Cheema & Gaul (2006) | Breast cancer survivors (1) | 27 | WHOQOL-BREF | 1 | Within |
| Cho et al. (2006) | South Korean breast cancer patients (1) | 28 | QOL Instrumentc | 1 | RCT |
| Courneya, Friedenreich, Quinney et al. (2003) | Colorectal cancer survivors < 3 months post-surgery (1) | 62 | FACT-G | 1 | RCT |
| Courneya, Friedenreich, Sela et al. (2003) | Cancer survivors (1) | 51 | FACT-G | 1 | RCT |
| Courneya et al. (2008) | Anemic cancer patients receiving Darbepoetin Alfa (1) | 26 | FACT-An | 1 | RCT |
| Courneya, Mackey, et al. (2003) | Breast cancer patients who had completed radiation or surgery (1) | 28 | FACT-B | 1 | RCT |
| Courneya et al. (2007) | Breast cancer patients beginning chemotherapy (2) | 74, 75 | FACT-An | 2 | RCT |
| Courneya et al. (2009) | Lymphoma patients (1) | 60 | FACT-An | 1 | RCT |
| Culos-Reed et al. (2006) | Cancer survivors not undergoing treatment (1) | 18 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 1 | Within |
| Culos-Reed et al. (2007) | Prostate cancer patients receiving ADT in next 6 months (1) | 31 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 2 | Within |
| Culos-Reed et al. (2010) | Prostate cancer patients receiving ADT (1) | 40 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 1 | RCT |
| Daley et al. (2007) | Post-treatment breast cancer survivors (2) | 31, 34 | FACT-G | 2 | RCTd |
| Damush et al. (2006) | Post-treatment breast cancer survivors > 50 years old (1) | 30 | CARES-SF | 1 | Within |
| Danhauer et al. (2008) | Ovarian and breast cancer survivors who had surgery over 2 years prior to enrollment (2) | 14, 37 | FACT-G | 2 | Within |
| De Backer et al. (2007) | Dutch cancer patients (1) | 57 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 1 | Within |
| De Backer et al. (2008) | Dutch cancer survivors who had completed surgical or radiotherapy (1) | 30 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 1 | RCT |
| Demark-Wahnefried, Clipp, Lipkus et al. (2007) | Early stage breast and prostate cancer patients (1) | 253 | FACT-G | 1 | RCT |
| Demark-Wahnefried, Clipp, Morey et al. (2007) | Breast and prostate cancer patients > 65 years old (1) | 77 | FACT-B, FACT-P | 2 | RCT |
| Dimeo et al. (2004) | Post-surgery cancer patients (1) | 34 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 1 | RCT |
| Durak & Lilly (1999) | Carcinoma/lymphoma/leukemia patients (1) | 47 | Rotterdam QOL | 2 | Within |
| Earle et al. (1996) | Breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant therapy (1) | 5 | FACT-G | 2 | Within |
| Fillion et al. (2008) | Breast cancer survivors who completed initial treatment < 2 years prior (1) | 44 | SF-36 | 2 | RCT |
| Galavo et al. (2010) | Prostate cancer patients undergoing AST (1) | 29 | SF-36 | 1 | RCT |
| Hall (1998) | Breast cancer survivors (2) | 9, 11 | FACT-G | 1 | RCT |
| Study | Population (and number of treatment groups) | Final n in treatment group(s) | QOL measure used in analyses | Post-treatment FUPsa | Analytic designb |
| Hawkes et al. (2009) | Cancer survivors 6 months post-diagnosis (1) | 20 | FACT-C | 1 | Within |
| Hayes et al. (2004) | Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy after blood stem cell transplantation (1) | 6 | CARES | 1 | RCT |
| Headley et al. (2004) | Stage IV breast cancer patients (1) | 16 | FACTIT | 1 | Within |
| Heim et al. (2007) | German breast cancer patients (2) | 29, 30 | FACT-G | 2 | Within |
| Herrero et al. (2006) | Breast cancer survivors (1) | 8 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 1 | RCT |
| Holley & Borger (2001) | Cancer patients (1) | 20 | FLIC | 1 | Within |
| Hughs (2004) | Hispanic breast cancer survivors (1) | 29 | SF-36 | 1 | Within |
| Hwang et al. (2009) | Breast cancer patients receiving radiotherapy (1) | 17 | WHOQOL-BREF | 1 | RCT |
| Ives (2009) | Post-treatment breast cancer survivors (2) | 7, 7 | FACT-B | 1 | Within |
| Jarden et al. (2009) | Cancer patients scheduled to undergoing allo-HSCT (1) | 17 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 3 | RCT |
| Kolden et al. (2002) | Breast cancer survivors (1) | 40 | FACT-G | 1 | Within |
| Kramer (1996) | Breast cancer survivors (1) | 13 | QOL Indexb | 1 | Within |
| Lee et al. (2010) | Korean gastric cancer survivors (1) | 21 | FACT-G | 1 | Within |
| Losito et al. (2006) | Cancer patients undergoing treatment (1) | 9 | SF-36 | 1 | Within |
| Lucas (2009) | Post-treatment breast cancer survivors (1) | 19 | FACT-B | 1 | Within |
| May et al. (2009) | Cancer patients < 3 months post-treatment (2) | 65, 66 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 3 | RCT |
| McClure et al. (2010) | Breast cancer patients with lymphedema (1) | 16 | SF-36 | 1 | RCTd |
| McKenzie & Kalda (2003) | Breast cancer patients > 6 months post-treatment (1) | 7 | SF-36 | 1 | RCT |
| McNeely (2007) | Head and neck cancer survivors (1) | 8 | FACT H&N | 1 | RCT |
| Milne et al. (2007) | Breast cancer patients within 24 months of diagnosis (2) | 28, 29 | FACT-B | 3, 1 | RCT/Withine |
| Monga et al. (2007) | Prostate cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy (1) | 11 | FACT-G | 1 | RCT |
| Morey et al. (2009) | Overweight cancer survivors diagnosed > 5 years prior to enrollment (1) | 319 | SF-36 | 1 | RCT |
| Mustian et al. (2009) | Breast and prostate cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy (1) | 19 | FACTIT | 2 | RCT |
| Mutrie et al. (2007) | Breast cancer patients undergoing treatment (1) | 82 | FACT-G | 2 | RCT |
| Ohira et al. (2006) | Breast cancer survivors (1) | 39 | CARES-SF | 1 | Within |
| Oldervoll et al. (2006) | Cancer patients 3–12 month life expectancy (1) | 34 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 1 | Within |
| Rogers et al. (2009) | Breast cancer patients receiving hormonal therapy (1) | 18 | FACT-G | 1 | RCTd |
| Schulz (1998) | Breast cancer patients (1) | 28 | SF-36 | 1 | Within |
| Schwartz (1999) | Breast cancer patients beginning chemotherapy (1) | 27 | QOL Indexc | 1 | Within |
| Segal et al. (2001) | Stage I and II breast cancer patients (2) | 32, 33 | FACT-G | 1 | RCT |
| Segal et al. (1997) | Advanced prostate cancer patients (1) | 7 | SF-36 | 1 | Within |
| Segal et al. (2003) | Prostate cancer patients receiving androgen deprivation therapy (1) | 74 | FACT-P | 1 | RCT |
| Speck et al. (2009) | Breast cancer survivors with or at risk for lymphedema (2) | 54, 59 | SF-36 | 1 | RCT |
| Tang et al. (2009) | Taiwanese Cancer patients (1) | 36 | SF-36 | 2 | RCT |
| Study | Population (and number of treatment groups) | Final n in treatment group(s) | QOL measure used in analyses | Post-treatment FUPsa | Analytic designb |
| Taylor et al. (2006) | Prostate cancer patients (1) | 36 | SF-36 | 1 | RCT |
| Thorsen et al. (2005) | Cancer patients who had received chemotherapy (1) | 59 | EORTC QLQ-30 | 1 | RCT |
| Todd et al. (2008) | Breast cancer patients who had undergone axillary node dissection (1) | 58 | FACT-B | 1 | Within |
| Turner et al. (2004) | Post-treatment breast cancer survivors | 10 | FACT-B | 1 | Within |
| Vallance et al. (2007) | Breast cancer patients (4) | 81, 84, 85, 88 | FACT-B | 1 | Within |
| Vito (2008) | Breast cancer patients being diagnosed or treated at enrollment (1) | 13 | FACT-B | 1 | Within |
| von Gruenigen et al. (2009) | Obese endometrial cancer survivors | 23 | FACT-G | 3 | RCT |
| Wiggins & Simonavice (2009) | Cancer survivors (1) | 10 | FACT-G | 2 | Within |
| Wilson, Jacobsen et al. (2005) | Cancer survivors who had received stem cell transplantation (1) | 13 | SF-36 | 1 | Within |
| Wilson, Taliaferro et al. (2006) | Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy (1) | 13 | SF-36 | 1 | Within |
| Yang (2008) | Cancer patients undergoing treatment (1) | 11 | SF-36 | 1 | RCT |
CARES Cancer Rehabilitation Evaluation System [131], CARES-SF Cancer Rehabilitation Evaluation System Short Form [132], EORTC QLQ-30 European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 [133], FACT-An Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Anemia [134], FACT-B Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Breast [135], FACT-G Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—General [110], FACT H&N Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Head & Neck [136], FACT-P Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Prostate [137], FACTIT Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy [138], FLIC Functional Living Index [139], SF-36 Short Form-36 [140], Rotterdam QOL[141], WHOQOL-BREF World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment [142]
Follow-ups
Some randomized controlled trials (RCTs) had no true control group (e.g., studies where individuals were randomized to receive either exercise intervention or exercise + meditation intervention). As such, these studies were treated as within subjects comparisons with two intervention groups in analyses, though they received PEDro scores that were consistent with randomization
Generic, study-generated scale
No data were available for these studies to calculate within subjects experimental and control group ES for the combined meta-regression
This study had a delayed treatment control group that began receiving the intervention immediately after the experimental group had completed the intervention. Therefore, the experimental group was compared to the control group during the intervention and immediately post-intervention, and was treated as a pre–post study for the two follow-ups during which the control group was receiving the intervention (three total post-intervention follow-ups). The control group was treated as a pre–post study for the follow-up immediately after the intervention was administered to this group (one total post-intervention follow-up)