Effectiveness of exercise interventions in the management of cancer-related fatigue: a systematic review of systematic reviews

BackgroundCancer-related fatigue is a widely prevalent global public health concern with serious consequences. Increasing evidence suggests the effectiveness of exercise intervention in treating cancer-related fatigue, but there is a lack of a summary of relevant literature on the same to help reach a clear consensus.ObjectiveTo summarize evidence regarding the efficacy of exercise interventions to reduce cancer fatigue, as determined in systematic reviews (SRs) and/or meta-analyses (MAs).MethodFrom inception to September 2022, PubMed (1948-2022), Embase (1974-2022), Cochrane Library (1993-2022), CINAHL (1937-2022), Web of Science (1997-2022), China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database (1999-2022), Wanfang Database (1993-2022), and Chinese Biomedical Database (1994-2022) were searched for inclusion to the study. Two reviewers independently extracted the data from the included articles. AMSTAR II was to evaluate the methodological quality of the reviews.ResultsA total of 46 systematic reviews were assessed for data on exercise intervention in reducing cancer-related fatigue among cancer patients. In addition, some studies have reported adverse events during the exercise intervention period. The quality of the included systematic review was found to be low or critically low.ConclusionsThe present systematic review of systematic reviews supports exercise intervention for reducing cancer-related fatigue. Further higher-quality studies are warranted to improve the level of evidence for exercise interventions for application in the treatment of cancer-related fatigue.