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Review
. 2023 Jun 6;24(6):160.
doi: 10.31083/j.rcm2406160. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Current Evidence on the Benefit of Exercise in Cancer Patients: Effects on Cardiovascular Mortality, Cardiotoxicity, and Quality of Life

Núria Coma  1   2 , Sergio Moral  1   2   3 , Esther Ballesteros  4 , Arantxa Eraso  5 , Montse Ventura  6 , Elisabet Pujol  1 , Ramon Brugada  1   2   3   7
Affiliations
Review

Current Evidence on the Benefit of Exercise in Cancer Patients: Effects on Cardiovascular Mortality, Cardiotoxicity, and Quality of Life

Núria Coma et al. Rev Cardiovasc Med. .

Abstract

Cancer and its treatments affect cardiovascular (CV) health, including an increased risk of CV death, decreased cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), and cardiac dysfunction. Moreover, cancer-related fatigue and worse quality of life (QoL) are highly prevalent adverse effects experienced by patients during treatment and can persist years after therapy ends. Physical exercise has been proposed as a strategy to improve different aspects of life of cancer patients, and is recommended as a therapy in cardio-oncology guidelines. Exercise interventions reduce fatigue and improve QoL in patients with both solid tumors and hematological malignancies, although there is a lack of awareness of exercise recommendations, timing, and referral to such programs. New evidence indicates that physical activities improve CRF, which can lead to a reduction in CV mortality. Furthermore, cardiac dysfunction is a side effect of many oncological treatments, which may be mitigated by exercise interventions according to preclinical studies and recent publications. Nevertheless, specific physical exercise programs are not widely used in cancer patients. Thus, the goal of this review was to describe the current evidence on the benefits of exercise in cancer patients, the gaps that remain, and an approach to exercise prescription.

Keywords: cardio-oncology; cardiorespiratory fitness; cardiotoxicity; cardiovascular health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest. Sergio Moral is serving as Guest Editor of this journal. We declare that Sergio Moral had no involvement in the peer review of this article and has no access to information regarding its peer review. Full responsibility for the editorial process for this article was delegated to Peter Kokkinos.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Effects of cancer in cardiovascular health. CRF, cardiorespiratory fitness; CTRCD, cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction; CV, cardiovascular.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Benefits of physical exercise in cancer patients. Physical exercise increases functional capacity, reduces cardiovascular mortality, decreases cancer-related fatigue, and improves quality of life. Current evidence suggests that exercise prevents cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction, although more evidence is needed. VO2peak, oxygen consumption peak; CV, cardiovascular.
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