Muscle hypertrophy in cancer patients and survivors via strength training. A meta-analysis and meta-regression

Background: Muscle wasting has a negative effect on treatment toxicity and cancer prognosis. Resistance training appears to be a promising approach to counteract the loss of muscle mass. Methods: Pubmed, Cochrane Library, SportDiscus and CINAHL. Randomized controlled resistance training trials with cancer survivros where eligible if lean body mass (LBM) or muscle mass were assessed. Results: A total of 34 trials were included into the primary analysis. Compared to the control individuals, the intervention groups show a superiority in LBM of 0.85 kg (95 % CI = 0.26-1.43, p = .004). Isolated, the participants in the intervention groups show an increase in LBM of 0.51 kg (95 % CI = - 0.05-1.06, p = .072); the control groups displayed a decrease of -0.59 kg (95 % CI= -1.04 to 0.06, p = .078). Supervision displayed an mediating role. Conclusions: Resistance training can counteract the loss of muscle mass in cancer patients. Especially in a supervised setting.

Automated summary

Resistance training can effectively counteract muscle loss in cancer patients, with better results in a supervised setting.