Table 1.
Participant characteristics. Baseline physical activity and physical activity measure for studies included in meta-analysis
| Authors and country | N | Cancer type | On treatment | Mean age | % female | % white | % higher education | Mean number of comorbidities | Exclusion based on current activity levels | Baseline physical activity (MVPA mins/wk) intervention group | Measure of physical activity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very promising – Significant between group difference | |||||||||||
|
a Mutrie et al. 2012 [55] UK |
203 | Breast cancer | Yes | 51.6 | 100 | NR | NR | NR | Excluded those who ‘regularly exercised’ | 367 | Scottish physical activity questionnaire |
| Pinto et al. 2008 [46] USA |
86 | Breast cancer | No | b53.1 | 100 | b95.5 | b81.5 | NR | Had to be relatively inactive < 20 mins vig or < twice a week of 30 mins moderate | 82 | 7 Day Physical activity recall |
| Rogers et al. 2015 [57] USA |
222 | Breast | No | 54.4 | 100 | 83.8 | NR | 2.2 | Had to be relatively inactive < 30 mins vig or 60 mins mod PA | 178 | Actigraph |
| Rogers et al. 2009 [37] Canada |
41 | Breast | NR | 53 | 100 | 93 | NR | NR | Excluded if > 150 min mod or > 60 mins vig | 96 | Actirgraph |
| Belanger et al. 2014 [40] Canada |
212 | Breast, colorectal, other | Yes | 18-39 yrs | 60.8 | 85 | 67.5 | 28.3% > 1 | Meta-synthesis Included only those from sub-analysis with baseline PA ≤ 300 mins/wk. at baseline | 86 | Godin Leisure Time exercise questionnaire |
| Pinto et al. 2015 [68] USA | 76 | Breast | Yes | 55.6 | 100 | 98.7 | 89.5 | NR | Had to be relatively inactive < 30 mins vig or < 90 mins mod PA | 32 | 7 Day Physical activity recall |
| Pinto et al. 2013 [56] USA | 192 | Breast | No | b56 | 100 | b94 | b76 | NR | Must be relatively inactive (< 30 mins vig or < 90 mins mod/wk) | 49 | 7 Day Physical activity recall |
| Dhillon et al. 2017 [69] Australia |
112 | Lung | Yes | Median 64 | 45 | NR | NR | NR | |||
| Baumann et al. 2017 [70] Germany |
194 | Breast | No | b56 | b100 | NR | NR | NR | |||
| Hawkes et al. 2013 [39] Australia |
410 | Colorectal | Yes | b66.3 | b46.1 | NR | NR | b91% ≥ 1 | Had to include 1 poor health behaviour (< 150 mins MVPA/wk., < 2 servings of fruit or < 5 servings of veg, or overweight, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 | 59 | Godin Leisure Time exercise questionnaire |
| Kanera et al., 2017 [54] Netherlands |
462 | Various (70% breast) | No | b55.9 | b79.9 | NR | 31 | 0.35 | |||
| Witlox et al., 2018 [48] Netherlands |
237 | Breast and colon | Yes | 50.8 | 91.1 | NR | 42 | NR | No exclusions | 879 | SQUASH |
| Quite promising - Significant within-group difference baseline to post-intervention follow up | |||||||||||
| Demark-Wahnefried et al. 2012 [38] USA |
641 | Breast, prostate and colorectal | No | b73 | b55.3 | b90 | b61.9 | NR | Baseline physical activity must be < 150 mins MVPA/wk | 33.3 | CHAMPS |
| Ottenbacher et al. 2012 [44] USA |
400 | Breast and Prostate | No | b57.6 | 59.5 | 85.5 | 89 | 2.15 | Analysis of N = 400 in larger study were reported < 150 mins MVPA/wk | 24 | 7 Day Physical activity recall |
| Vallance et al. 2007 [52] Canada |
377 | Breast | No | 58 | 100 | NR | NR | NR | No exclusions | 119 | Godin Leisure Time exercise questionnaire |
| Pinto et al. 2013 [45] USA |
46 | Colorectal | No | b57.6 | b57 | b98 | b76.5 | NR | Had to be relatively inactive < 60 mins of mod or < 20 mins vigorous | 38 | 7-Day Physical activity recall |
| Leclerc et al. 2018 [71] Belgium |
209 | Breast | No | b53.4 | 100 | NR | NR | NR | |||
| Mayer et al. 2018 [72] USA |
284 | Colon | No | b58.6 | b52 | b89 | b57 | NR | |||
| Lee et al. 2018 [50] Hong Kong |
223 | Colorectal | N | b65.2 | b36.8 | NR | b87.5 | – | Unclear | 498 | Actigraph |
| Adams et al. 2018 [42] Canada |
63 | Testicular | N | 43.7 | 0 | 90.5 | NR | NR | excluded if performed ‘regular vigorous physical activity | 125 | Godin Leisure Time exercise questionnaire |
| Stolley et al. 2017 [73] USA |
246 | Breast | N | 57.5 | 100 | 0 | 76 | NR | |||
| Not promising - No between or within group differences | |||||||||||
| Galvo et al. 2017 [53] Australia |
463 | prostate | Yes | 64.4 | – | NP | 62 | NR | No exclusion based on PA | 126 | Godin Leisure Time exercise questionnaire |
| Nyrop et al. 2017 [41] USA |
62 | Breast | No | 63.8 | 100 | 74 | 77 | NR | |||
| Carmack et al. 2006 [51] USA |
134 | Prostate | Yes | 69.2 | – | 73 | 79 | 65.7% ≥ 2 | |||
| James et al. 2015 [43] Australia c |
108 | Mixed | N | – | – | – | – | – | No exclusions | 84 | Active Australia survey |
| O’Neill et al. 2018 [49] Ireland |
43 | Esophagogastric | N | b65.7 | b19 | NR | NR | NR | No exclusions | 132 | Actigraph |
| Sandler et al. 2017 [47] Australia |
46 | Breast and colon | N | b51.2 | b93.6 | NR | NR | NR | No exclusions | 30 | IPAQ |
NR not reported aUsed linked texts to extract some sample characteristics bsummed means across 2 groups cdemographic data not available as presented for both cancer patients and carers, SQUASH Short Questionnaire to Assess Health enhancing physical activity, CHAMPS Community Health Activities Model Program for Seniors, IPAQ International Physical Activity Questionnaire