The association between physical activity and risk of gastric cancer; an umbrella review

Abstract

Introduction Gastric cancer (GC), as a highly lethal malignancy, is the fourth most common malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. This study is an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses to present an overview of the extent and reliability of the claimed association between physical activity and the likelihood of developing or dying from GC. Method This study was conducted following the Joanna Brigs Institute (JBI)’s methods for conducting umbrella reviews. A systematic search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and ProQuest databases until July, 2024 with predefined keywords. Two independent authors assessed the Risk of Bias in included studies using the JBI critical appraisal tool for the assessment of the quality of systematic reviews and disagreements between the authors were resolved through discussion or the opinion of another author. Result Five systematic reviews were included in this analysis, offering a more comprehensive understanding of the inverse relationship between physical activity and gastric cancer risk. Compared to previous studies, this review provides stronger evidence that moderate-to-high levels of physical activity significantly reduce the overall risk of developing gastric cancer. Conclusion While a link between physical activity and reduced cancer risk is promising, further research is crucial to unravel the specific mechanisms at play and to quantify the impact of increased activity levels on cancer prevention. Based on the findings of this study, physical activity is found to be associated with a decreased risk of GC; however, the limitation of the evidence suggested a need for future studies on this topic.