{"doi":"10.1002/cam4.4021","title":"Prehabilitation exercise therapy for cancer: A systematic review and meta‐analysis","abstract":"OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of prehabilitation exercise intervention with respect to (1) acceptability, feasibility, and safety; and (2) physical function, measured by 6-minute-walk test (6MWT). DATA SOURCES: PRISMA guidelines were used to systematically search PubMed, Embase, and CINAHL databases evaluating prehabilitation exercise interventions. STUDY SELECTION: The inclusion criteria were studies investigating patients who underwent surgery for their cancer and underwent prehabilitation exercise. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Guidelines were applied by independent extraction by multiple observers. Data were pooled using a random-effects model. MAIN OUTCOME(S) AND MEASURE(S): Acceptability, feasibility, and safety rates were calculated. 6MWT (maximum distance a person can walk at their own pace on a hard, flat surface, measured in meters, with longer distance indicative of better performance status) was compared using two arms using the DerSimonian and Laird method. RESULTS: Objective 1. Across 21 studies included in this review, 1564 patients were enrolled, 1371 (87.7%) accepted the trial; of 1371, 1230 (89.7% feasibility) completed the intervention. There was no grade 3+ toxicities. Objective 2. Meta-analysis of five studies demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in 6MWT distance postoperatively in the control group (mean difference = +27.9 m; 95% confidence interval (CI): 9.3; 46.6) and a significant improvement postoperatively in the prehabilitation group (mean difference = -24.1 m; 95% CI: -45.7; -2.6). Meta-analysis demonstrated improvements in 6MWT distance 4-8 weeks postoperatively in the prehabilitation group compared to the control group (mean difference = -58.0 m, 95% CI: -92.8; -23.3). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Prehabilitation exercise for cancer patients undergoing surgery was found to be safe, acceptable, and feasible with a statistically significant improvement in the 6MWT, indicating that prehabilitation can improve postoperative functional capacity.","journal":"Cancer Medicine","year":2021,"id":147747,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":147,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.7867,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":236258,"name":"Eric J. Lehrer","orcid":"0000-0002-1216-6230","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":65157,"name":"KATHRYN H. SCHMITZ","orcid":"0000-0003-2400-2935","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":236265,"name":"Nicholas G. Zaorsky","orcid":"0000-0002-4932-1986","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":503799,"name":"Christina M. Michael","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":41,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:42:35.448762Z","pmid":"34110101","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}