Effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation in cancer survivors: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

Purpose

This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate available data regarding the potential benefits of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in cancer survivors.

Methods

Relevant studies published from inception to April 2024 were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CENTRAL, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, CNKI, WanFang, VIP, and CBM databases. Seven randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 526 cancer survivors were included in this meta-analysis.

Results

CR increased muscle strength (standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.39, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.06 to 0.72, P = 0.020), quality of life (QoL) (SMD = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.40 to 0.82, P $<$ 0.001), and led to a decrease in Body Mass Index (BMI) (mean difference (MD) = −1.11, 95% CI: −2.02 to −0.19, P = 0.020), total cholesterol (TC) (MD = −0.41, 95% CI: −0.69 to −0.14, P = 0.003), triglyceride (TG) (MD = −0.33, 95% CI: −0.63 to −0.03, P = 0.030) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (MD = −0.34, 95% CI: −0.57 to −0.12, P = 0.003). The meta-analysis revealed that CR had no statistically significant impact on cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels.

Conclusions

CR may represent an effective strategy to evaluate cancer survivors because it improves muscle strength and QoL and reduces BMI, TC, TG and LDL levels. Further RCTs with strict study designs and larger sample sizes are required to determine the effects of CR on cancer survivors.