Exercise training after lung surgery improves quality of life

Postoperative exercise training has the potential to increase the quality of life (QoL) of patients undergoing lung surgery, according to the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Researchers searched multiple online databases for studies evaluating whether postoperative exercise training was effective at improving clinical outcomes, such as the QoL, exercise capacity, and respiratory function, in patients receiving pulmonary resection.

The initial search yielded 55 potentially relevant publications, of which eight randomized controlled trials were included in the meta-analysis. The total study population comprised 691 patients, with the sample size ranging from 15 to 211 across the studies.

The trials were conducted in six different countries, including the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. The exercise training started at the first day after surgery in most of the included studies, with training time ranging from 5 to 60 minutes per day, performed 1–12 times per week over 4–20 weeks.

Pooled data showed that postoperative exercise training led to a significant increase in postoperative QoL (measured using the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey [SF-36]) as compared with the control group. The weighted mean difference in the SF-36 physical domain score was 5.87 (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 3.96–7.78; p<0.001), while that in the SF-36 mental domain score was 8.15 (95 percent CI, 0.13–16.16; p=0.05).

Results for the eight dimensions of SF-36 were similar to the overall results.

However, postoperative exercise training did not deliver substantial benefits in terms of the secondary outcomes of exercise capacity and respiratory function as compared with the control.

Additional trials with large samples are required to verify the effects of postoperative exercise rehabilitation on clinical outcomes of patients scheduled to receive pulmonary resection.