Exercise interventions for patients with pediatric cancer during inpatient acute care: A systematic review of literature

Abstract

Physical inactivity has been shown to exacerbate negative side effects experienced by pediatric patients undergoing cancer therapy. Exercise interventions are being created in response. This review summarizes current exercise intervention data in the inpatient pediatric oncology setting. Two independent reviewers collected literature from three databases, and analyzed data following the PRISMA statement for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Ten studies were included, representing 204 patients. Good adherence, positive trends in health status, and no adverse events were noted. Common strategies included individual, supervised, combination training with adaptability to meet fluctuating patient abilities. We recommend that general physical activity programming be offered to pediatric oncology inpatients.

Physical activity for children undergoing acute cancer treatment: A qualitative study of parental perspectives

“…Early literature on physical activity interventions for children during acute cancer treatment focused on exercise prescription strategies that address physical impairments 9,56 . More recently, promising examples of complex intervention design have emerged in the acute pediatric cancer setting, but more work needs to be done to ensure the strategies used are theoretically informed, feasible, and address factors beyond the child and family unit 18,43,57 .…”

Sport activities and exercise as part of routine cancer care in children and adolescents

“…Findings from exercise studies support the promotion of physical activity and use of exercise science principles to gain and maintain physiological, functional, and quality of life benefits during and after treatment for cancer . During treatment, the proposed benefits include improved physical functioning, body composition, immune and cardiorespiratory systems, sleep, energy, and health‐related quality of life . Integrating contents of physical education into hospital routine may also be important to promote physiologic motor development and maintain the normality (such as gym classes) that patients are missing.…”

“…6,7 During treatment, the proposed benefits include improved physical functioning, body composition, immune and cardiorespiratory systems, sleep, energy, and health-related quality of life. 8 Integrating contents of physical education into hospital routine may also be important to promote physiologic motor development and maintain the normality (such as gym classes) that patients are missing.…”

“…The literature regarding childhood cancer is less ample and limited primarily to children with leukemia. Very few exercise interventions undertaken in the pediatric cancer or pediatric cancer survivor populations have been randomized trials, and, across studies, the components of exercise prescription were implemented with differing intensity, timing, and duration . Despite these caveats, the available studies have shown that exercise for children with cancer during inpatient acute care is feasible and safe, and holds potential for positive health effects across a diverse range of endpoints.…”

Sarcoma on Ski: Individual Skiing Concepts Enable Autonomous Skiing After Multimodal Therapy for Pediatric Muscular-Skeletal Tumors

“…Physical activity levels and motor performance are dramatically reduced during and shortly after treatment [12][13][14][15] and such limita-tions persist throughout adulthood [5,6,[16][17][18][19]. There is no doubt that physical activity and sports interventions contribute to the reduction of late effects and influence clinical and psychosocial outcome positively [20][21][22][23]. However, our experience and a survey in one outpatient Clinic of Pediatric Oncology showed that the questioned children and adolescents with sarcoma are not attending school and are excluded from activities in sports clubs [24].…”