title: Exercise interventions for patients with gynaecological cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  People with gynaecological cancer commonly suffer from physical and psychological symptoms related to their cancer and cancer treatment.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate and synthesise the evidence examining the effect of interventions with an exercise component for females with gynaecological cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medline, CINAHL, EMBASE, PubMed, PEDro, PsycINFO and Cochrane Library were searched systematically in September 2014.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomised controlled trials were included if they investigated the effects of interventions with an exercise component in patients with gynaecological cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two reviewers independently assessed the risk of bias of studies using the PEDro scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven randomised controlled trials on five patient groups involving 221 participants were included. The mean PEDro score was 5.3 (standard deviation 1.5) out of 10. Compared with control groups, the intervention groups showed significantly greater improvements in physical activity levels and body mass index. No significant effects were found for fatigue, depression and health-related quality of life. A meta-analysis of functional exercise capacity and muscle strength was not possible due to insufficient data in the included trials.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of studies provided exercise as part of multicomponent intervention programmes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Interventions with an exercise component appear to be effective at improving physical activity levels and body mass index among patients with gynaecological cancer. Further research is required to examine the effects of exercise interventions alone in this population.
  PROSPERO CRD42014014019.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: kuanyinl@student.unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: K-Y
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, School of Allied Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia; Cabrini Health, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Frawley
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Denehy
authors.affiliation: Cabrini Health, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Feil
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Physiotherapy, Melbourne Health, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Granger
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D005221:Fatigue; D005260:Female; D005833:Genital Neoplasms, Female / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
keywords: Exercise; Gynaecological cancer; Health-related quality of life; Meta-analysis; Physical activity; Systematic review