Background: It is necessary to engage in an appropriate level of physical activity to improve the prognoses of colorectal cancer patients, yet no guidelines currently exist. The goals of this systematic review are to determine the impact of levels of physical activity on the prognoses of colorectal cancer patients and to suggest recommended guidelines for levels of physical activity.
Methods: This systematic review was conducted along PRISMA guidelines. Per the inclusion criteria, papers published in academic journals in English from 2010 to 2019 were selected. A literature search was performed on PubMed (Medline), and the results of the selected studies were qualitatively synthesized.
Results: Of the 13 cohort studies included in this systematic review, most studies were conducted in the United States (N = 7). Immobility or low levels of physical activity adversely affected the prognoses of colorectal cancer patients. Contrarily, high levels of physical activity increased the survival rate in people with colorectal cancer.
Conclusion: For colorectal cancer patients, a level of physical activity of 17.5 to 35 MET hours per week is strongly recommended, which has been shown to reduce mortality by approximately 30 to 40%. Patients with limited physical capacity should maintain a minimum level of physical activity (≥3.5 MET hours/week).
Keywords: cancer; colon; colorectal cancer; mortality; physical activity; prognosis; recommendation; rectum; recurrence.