Effects of concurrent aerobic and strength training in women diagnosed with non-metastatic breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

To investigate the potential impact of concurrent aerobic and strength training (CT) on women diagnosed with breast cancer.

Articles published in English and indexed in the PubMed, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, The Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and CINAHL Plus databases from their inception to 12 December 2023 were searched. Eligible studies were randomized controlled trials that involved CT and assessed cardiorespiratory fitness, cancer-related fatigue, and quality of life (QoL) using specialized tools. Subgroup analyses were conducted as per treatment status and characteristics. Risk of bias was evaluated with the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool (RoB 2.0).

This study included 29 studies involving 2071 participants. CT was found to significantly improve patients’ cardiorespiratory fitness (weighted mean difference = 4.24 mL/kg/min, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.93–6.55, P < 0.001), cancer-related fatigue (standardized mean difference (SMD) =  − 0.74, 95% CI =  − 1.05 to − 0.44, P < 0.001), and QoL (SMD = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.50–1.01, P < 0.001). The analysis of secondary outcomes found that CT could significantly improve patients’ body composition, anxiety, pain, sleep disorders, and anorexia and enhance upper and lower limb muscle strength, but was ineffective on depression.

For women with breast cancer, CT significantly enhances cardiorespiratory fitness, alleviates cancer-related fatigue, and improves QoL. The health benefits of CT are inferior in the postmenopausal cohort compared to the overall study population.

CT is advisable for female breast cancer survivors due to its significant effectiveness in mitigating cancer-related fatigue, enhancing cardiorespiratory fitness, and improving the QoL.