Umbrella Review of Psychosocial, Physical, and Combined Interventions for Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer: Impacts on Quality of Life and Health-Related Outcomes.

Abstract

Relevance: Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) diagnosed with cancer represent a particularly vulnerable group with unique developmental, psychosocial, and functional challenges. Beyond survival, improving health-related quality of life (HRQoL) has become a major priority in cancer survivorship and public health.

Purpose: This umbrella review aimed to critically synthesize evidence from existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses evaluating the effectiveness of physical, psychosocial, and mixed interventions for improving HRQoL and related health outcomes in AYA (e.g., cancer-related fatigue, anxiety, and physical functioning) cancer patients and survivors.

Methods: A comprehensive search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and ScienceDirect identified eligible systematic reviews and meta-analyses published between 2015 and 2025.

Results: Fifteen reviews were included. Physical activity interventions showed the most consistent moderate benefits, particularly in reducing fatigue and improving physical functioning and domain-specific HRQoL. Psychosocial interventions demonstrated small-to-moderate improvements in anxiety, depression, and emotional well-being. Mixed interventions showed promising but less robust evidence, particularly due to limited long-term follow-up. Overall evidence certainty ranged from low to moderate. Primary study redundancy was minimal (the corrected covered area = 1.7%).

Conclusions: Psychosocial interventions, especially exercise-based and psychosocial programs, can improve key HRQoL domains in AYAs with cancer. However, more rigorous long-term studies are required, particularly for combined and digital approaches.