Fitness and muscle strength could halve cancer patient deaths, study suggests

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.

The likelihood of people dying from their cancer has decreased significantly in recent decades owing to greater awareness of symptoms, and better access to treatment and care.

However, despite notable advances, the side-effects of treatment, including on the heart and muscles, can affect survival.

A 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 findings were published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

To inform potential options for extending survival in these patients, researchers set out to see if muscular strength and cardiorespiratory 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 cardiorespiratory 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.

A second study, also published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine on Wednesday, found maintaining a slimmer waistline along with regular exercise was far more effective at cutting the risk of cancer than doing only one or the other.

The research, funded by the World Cancer Research Fund, found people needed to exercise and keep their weight down to reap the maximum benefit.

The study, of more than 315,000 people, was the first to investigate how the two actions combine to reduce cancer risk.

Dr Helen Croker, assistant director of research and policy at the World Cancer Research Fund, said: “These findings underscore the importance of a holistic lifestyle approach instead of focusing on a single factor to reduce cancer risk. Maintaining a healthy weight and, in particular, having a waist circumference within the recommended level and being physically active, along with eating a healthy diet, are all crucial steps to reduce cancer risk.”

Meanwhile, Cancer Research UK, a leading cancer charity, announced on Wednesday that it and its partners were committing £10m to create new tools using AI and analytics to improve early cancer detection and prevention.

Doctors may soon be able to predict an individual’s chances of getting cancer and offer personalised help, thanks to the five-year cancer data-driven detection programme, the charity said.

This could lead to those at higher risk being offered more frequent cancer screening, or screening at a younger age, while those at lower risk could be spared unnecessary tests.