The purpose of this meta-analysis was to estimate the effect of exercise interventions on anxiety and depression in patients with lung cancer through the analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. The meta-analysis was conducted in three databases from inception to May 2022. The investigation focused on assessing the impacts exercise interventions on patients with lung cancer, specifically examing RCTs that reported outcomes related to anxiety and depression. Effect sizes were calculated by standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence interval (CI)statistics. Additionally, subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses were conducted.
Eleven RCTs involving a total of 987 participants were included in this analysis. The results demonstrated that exercise interventions significantly decreased levels of anxiety (SMD = − 0.65; 95% CI [− 1.79, − 0.52], P = 0.0004) and depression (SMD = − 0.82; 95% CI [− 1.16, − 0.47]; P < 0.01). A subgroup analysis of anxiety, using the HADS scale, showed no heterogeneity (SMD = − 0.23, 95% CI [− 0.45, − 0.02], I2 = 0%). Similarly, for depression, the subgroup analysis showed no heterogeneity (SMD = − 0.53, 95% CI [− 0.75, − 0.31]; P < 0.01; I2 = 0%). Results of subgroup analyses using the SAS (I2 = 90%) and SDS scale (I2 = 92%) showed heterogeneity among studies; however, the scale itself was not a source of heterogeneity. Regarding sensitivity analyses for anxiety and depression, they were all statistically robust.
In summary, the present meta-analysis suggests that exercise interventions may reduce anxiety and depression levels in patients with lung cancer. The exercise programs included in this trial were associated with less anxiety and depression levels.
The 2018 European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology provided recommendations for physical activity in people with inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis. It confirmed its safety and feasibility in this patient population, alongside describing possible health benefits. The aim of this narrative review is to synthesise the literature investigating the effects of physical activity and exercise interventions on patient-centred outcomes in a range of inflammatory rheumatic diseases since 2018 to help guide clinical practice.
Databases (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane central register of controlled trials database, MEDLINE via Pubmed, Embase and CINAHL) were searched for studies from 01/01/2018 to 31/08/2021 for systematic reviews, meta-analyses and randomised controlled trials exploring physical activity interventions in a population of adults with rheumatological diseases. Data on study population, interventions, outcomes and quality was collected before synthesis of the findings and categorisation into three disease groups: rheumatoid arthritis (RA), axial spondyloarthritis (AxSpA), and connective tissue disease (CTD).
Eighty-six reports were included. Interventions included swimming, aquatic exercises, global posture retraining and land based aerobic exercises with significant heterogeneity also seen in dosing and frequency. Improved quality of life, cardiovascular fitness and physical function, alongside reductions in disease activity and fatigue, were reported as having either a positive or possible positive effect in all disease groups. Outcomes such as pain and mood-related outcomes (such as anxiety and depression) showed the most variation across the disease groups.
Physical activity interventions have numerous benefits on patient reported outcomes in patients with rheumatological disease from positive impacts on disease activity, physical function and cardiovascular fitness to improvements in multifactorial outcomes like fatigue and quality of life. It should be an integral part of a holistic management approach.
Bariatric surgery is a treatment for severe obesity and its associated conditions, which already has ample evidence of its benefits. In addition to the reduction in body fat mass, the weight loss caused by bariatric surgery includes a significant reduction in skeletal muscle and bone mineral mass, which could negatively affect functional capacity and increase the risk of sarcopenia. The need for prophylactic programs that prevent sarcopenia in bariatric surgery patients seems to be one of the crucial points for the long-term surgical success of bariatric and metabolic surgery. This study aims to review the published literature regarding the effects of physical exercise on the prevention of sarcopenia induced by bariatric surgery.
We followed the PRISMA checklist for systematic reviews conducted in PubMed/Medline, EBSCO, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. Randomized controlled, controlled clinical, and other types of experimental studies were considered for inclusion. A total of 356 possibly relevant studies were identified with quality considered reasonable and good. Eight studies were included in the review: six of which were randomized experimental studies, one was a pilot study, and one a quasi-experimental study.
Structured physical exercise allows significant improvements in body composition, positively affecting functional capacity, muscle strength, cardio-metabolic risk factors, and quality of life in patients with obesity undergoing bariatric surgery, especially when combined exercise is implemented in the initial weeks following surgery.
A combined, individualized, and supervised exercise program contributes to preventing and reducing sarcopenia after bariatric surgery.
The concept of virtual exercise is still a nascent domain for therapeutic intervention. In light of the importance of exercise and the fast development of digital technologies, virtual exercise possesses a promising potential for future development. Sailing is a recreational exercise that has helped the rehabilitation of patients with neurological and physiological disorders and improved their quality of life. However, challenges exist in implementing physical sailing as an intervention, due to the cost and the extent of uncertainty of this sport. While studies remain limited, over the past twenty years, simulated sailing that combines virtual reality with complex motor learning and optimum decision-making is emerging as a potential digital exercise that possesses broad therapeutic applications for future exploration. This review aims to have a more complete understanding of the clinical application of virtual sailing as an emerging exercise therapy.
Literature searches were performed using PubMed, EMBASE and MEDLINE bibliographic databases for research articles published from January 1994 to January 2024 (inclusive). We performed a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat (SWOT) analysis to evaluate the implementation of virtual sailing as a new therapeutic intervention, opening unanswered questions for future investigation.
Out of 205 articles searched from databases, 31 advanced to full-text screening and 7 articles were eligible for inclusion in this narrative review. This review summarises the application and therapeutic efficacy of virtual sailing in improving both motor and psychosocial functions. We also shared our perspectives on developing virtual sailing as an exercise therapy for treating neurodegenerative diseases, focusing on pre-clinical and clinical evidence as well as the proposed mechanism by which virtual sailing could influence neural plasticity in the central nervous system.
Virtual sailing is a promising exercise therapy feasible for future implementation, although large-scale trial studies involving a diverse range of clinical conditions are required.
The aim of this review was to methodically consider oxidative stress biomarkers in endurance performance events. The health benefits of exercise come at the cost of reactive oxygen species production. Reactive oxygen species and the continued development of oxidative stress may bring about muscular damage and inflammation, ultimately impairing exercise performance.
A search for applicable articles was performed using PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and ScienceDirect with dates of January 1, 2010, to April 30, 2023. Inclusion criteria consisted of (1) original, peer-reviewed studies with human participants; (2) studies written in English; (3) studies available as full free text. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist and flow-chart were followed.
Thirty studies were included in the final review. Four studies collected blood and urine samples, while 26 studies collected blood samples only for assessment. Thirteen studies on ultramarathons, seven on military training and survival, four on Ironman and endurance running, and one on running/cycling and swimming were discovered throughout the course of the research. Well-trained, elite, recreational, amateur, moderately active, ultra-marathon runners, triathletes, cadets/soldiers, physical education students, and untrained individuals comprised the study subjects.
According to the evidence, extended duration events do not always induce supraphysiological oxidative stress and muscle damage which are indicated by the presence of absence of reactive oxygen species and inflammatory biomarkers. Still, more importantly, oxidative damage markers of lipids, proteins, and different enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants develop depending on the individual’s level of training.
A priori cardiovascular (CV) health status may impact reductions in risk factors and CV mortality and morbidity following exercise training, although this is not fully understood. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine if endothelial function (assessed via flow mediated dilation; FMD%), predicts the magnitude of change in CV risk factors or fitness following exercise training.
We pooled data from 338 individuals who underwent supervised exercise training (8–26 weeks). Using recent sex- and age-specific reference values for flow-mediated dilation (FMD%), we categorised participants as having preserved endothelial function (P-EF) (> 50th percentile of reference value, 56 females, 67 males, 46 ± 17 years) or reduced endothelial function (R-EF) (< 50th percentile of reference value, 67 females, 148 males, 48 ± 17 years). The effects of exercise training on cardiovascular risk factors (BMI, cholesterol, glucose and triglycerides), cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2peak) and vascular function (FMD%) were examined using a two-way mixed design general linear model.
Exercise training significantly improved physical fitness (P < 0.001), with no difference in the magnitude of improvement between P-EF and R-EF. Modest but significant reductions were present in BMI, blood pressure and total cholesterol (all P < 0.005), with no difference between P-EF and R-EF groups in the magnitude of changes in these variables with training. Exercise training did not significantly alter glucose, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (all P > 0.05).
Individuals with reduced and preserved a priori endothelial function status can obtain benefits from exercise in terms of risk factor modification and fitness change. Therefore, exercise has the potential to be beneficial in all clinical groups.
To investigate the feasibility of a municipality-based 16-week group-based HIFT-program (e.g. CrossFit) as a part of the physical rehabilitation of cancer survivors at different stages of cancer treatment.
Non-randomised clinical feasibility study. Younger adult patients (age 18–44 years) diagnosed with cancer who were referred to rehabilitation between August 2019 to December 2019 were eligible for inclusion. The group-based HIFT intervention was designed as a 16-week program with two sessions weekly (1.25 h each). The intervention program was not developed with pre-defined progression in terms of gradually added resistance, intensity, or volume during the 16 weeks period but the physiotherapist leading the sessions was trained in scalability. Feasibility was evaluated as retention, adherence, and accrual rates. Data on quality of life and cancer-related fatigue were measured EORTC QLQ-C-30 and evaluated using paired t-tests or Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
Eighty-three percent of the eligible patients were included and initiated the HIFT program. However, 25% of the patients were not adherent to the intervention and only 34% of the patients were still adherent to the intervention after 4 months. Nonetheless, a significant improvement in cancer specific HRQoL was found from baseline [Mean = 53.4, 95%CI (47.6, 59.1)] to the end of the intervention [Mean = 66.3, 95%CI (60.8, 71.9)].
It is possible to recruit patients diagnosed with cancer to a municipality-based HIFT rehabilitation program, however, adherence to the intervention is found to be difficult for the majority of the patients.
Performing yoga exercises in addition to basic training helps athletes to improve their results. At the same time, yoga exercises, including Hatha yoga, which involves controlling one’s breathing, are integrated into the training process. This work is devoted to study the influence of breathing exercises, with the decrease and increase in the minute volume of breathing with corresponding changes in gas exchange, on peripheral blood flow, spirometry, and gas analysis in anatomically different areas: the skin of the forehead, fingers and toes.
Volunteers performed full breathing exercises, which led to the decrease and increase in the minute volume of breathing with corresponding changes in gas exchange. Blood microcirculation was recorded using laser Doppler flowmetry (LDM) analyzers in the skin of the forehead, fingers and toes. Additionally, spirometry and gas analysis were used.
It was found that 5-min practices of full breathing among experienced volunteers led to similar changes in microcirculation parameters, namely, an increase in the skin blood perfusion in all areas, as well as an increase in nutritive blood flow only in the extremities (fingers and toes). Reducing the minute volume of breathing leads to an increase in amplitudes of endothelial and neurogenic oscillations during the recovery period, but increasing the minute volume of breathing leads to an increase in amplitudes of neurogenic oscillations during that same period.
The study of the blood microcirculation behavior during breathing exercises and its correlation is useful both for obtaining fundamental knowledge of oxygen delivery to biological tissues in various breathing modes and for evaluating the efficacy of breathing exercises in sports training and rehabilitation. Changes in lung ventilation and the corresponding shifts in gas exchange affect the active mechanisms of blood microcirculation regulation. This stimulation occurs through endothelial mechanisms during reduced minute volume of breathing with hypoxia and hypercapnia, as well as neurogenic mechanisms both in increased and decreased lung ventilation.