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Contains fulltext : 292318.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate whether exercise prehabilitation programs reduce postoperative complications, postoperative mortality, and length of hospital stay (LoS) in patients undergoing surgery for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), thereby accounting for the quality of the physical exercise program. METHODS: Two reviewers independently selected randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies and assessed them for methodological quality and therapeutic quality of the exercise prehabilitation program (i-CONTENT tool). Eligible studies included patients with NSCLC performing exercise prehabilitation and reported the occurrence of 90-day postoperative complications, postoperative mortality, and LoS. Meta-analyses were performed and the certainty of the evidence was graded (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE)) for each outcome. RESULTS: Sixteen studies, comprising 2,096 patients, were included. Pooled analyses of RCTs and observational studies showed that prehabilitation reduces postoperative pulmonary complications (OR 0.45), postoperative severe complications (OR 0.51), and LoS (mean difference -2.46 days), but not postoperative mortality (OR 1.11). The certainty of evidence was very low to moderate for all outcomes. Risk of ineffectiveness of the prehabilitation program was high in half of the studies due to an inadequate reporting of the dosage of the exercise program, inadequate type and timing of the outcome assessment, and low adherence. CONCLUSION: Although risk of ineffectiveness was high for half of the prehabilitation programs and certainty of evidence was very low to moderate, prehabilitation seems to result in a reduction of postoperative pulmonary and severe complications, as well as LoS in patients undergoing surgery for NSCLC.

This systematic review evaluated which outcome variables and cut-off values of pretreatment exercise tests are associated with treatment complications in patients with stage I-III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). PRISMA and Cochrane guidelines were followed. A total of 38 studies with adult patients undergoing treatment for stage I-III NSCLC who completed pretreatment exercise tests, and of whom treatment-related complications were recorded were included. A lower oxygen uptake at peak exercise amongst several other variables on the cardiopulmonary exercise test and a lower performance on field tests, such as the incremental shuttle walk test, stair-climb test, and 6-minute walk test, were associated with a higher risk for postoperative complications and/ or postoperative mortality. Cut-off values were reported in a limited number of studies and were inconsistent. Due to the variety in outcomes, further research is needed to evaluate which outcomes and cut-off values of physical exercise tests are most clinically relevant.