Exercise boosts survival rates in colon cancer patients
A three-year exercise program improved survival in colon cancer patients and kept disease at bay, a first-of-its-kind international study showed.
With the benefits rivaling some drugs, experts said cancer centers and insurance plans should consider making exercise coaching a new standard of care for colon cancer survivors. Until then, patients can increase their physical activity after treatment.
“It’s an extremely exciting study,” said Dr. Jeffrey Meyerhardt of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who wasn’t involved in the research.
The study—done in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Israel and the United States—compared people who were randomly selected for an exercise program with those who instead received an educational booklet.
Researchers followed 889 patients with treatable colon cancer who had completed chemotherapy. Half were given information promoting fitness and nutrition. The others worked with a coach, meeting every two weeks for a year, then monthly for the next two years.
After eight years, the people in the structured exercise program not only became more active than those in the control group but also had 28 percent fewer cancers and 37 percent fewer deaths from any cause.
