NEW RESEARCH ABOUT CANCER AND STRENGTH TRAINING

Muscular strength and good physical fitness could almost halve the risk of cancer patients dying from their disease, according to a study that suggests tailored exercise plans may increase survival.

Data analysis, involving nearly 47,000 patients with various types and stages of cancer, suggests muscular strength and good physical fitness are linked to a significantly lower risk of death from any cause in people with cancer.

The incredible findings were published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine back in 2023.

To inform potential options for extending survival in these patients, researchers set out to see if muscular strength and fitness might be associated with a lower risk of death, and whether cancer type and stage might be influential.

Researchers, led by Edith Cowan University in Australia, looked for relevant studies published in English up to August 2023, including 42 in the final pooled data analysis.

Compared with patients with poor muscle strength and low levels of fitness, those at the other end of the spectrum were 31-46% less likely to die from any cause, the researchers said.

This combination of strength and fitness was associated with an 8-46% lower risk of death from any cause in patients with stage 3 or 4 cancer, and a 19-41% lower risk of death from any cause among those with lung or digestive cancers.

“Our findings highlight that muscle strength could potentially be used in clinical practice to determine mortality risk in cancer patients in advanced stages and, therefore, muscle strengthening activities could be employed to increase life expectancy,” the researchers wrote.