Purpose: In cancer rehabilitation, wearable technology has been suggested to improve adherence, motivation and physical activity (PA) frequency in cancer survivors participating in various exercise interventions. The majority of published work so far has been in breast cancer cohorts. Therefore, the aim of this review was to evaluate the effect of wearable technologies as an intervention strategy for improving PA in cancer populations other than breast cancer.
Methods: This review was conducted through a search of the electronic databases Cochrane, CINAHL, PubMed and EMBASE to find studies published within the last 10 years. Adult cancer survivors, excluding those with a breast cancer diagnosis, were included in the review. The outcome measure of interest, PA, was measured by both minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA per day (MVPA) and daily step count. Risk of bias was assessed using the RoB2 and NIH-NHLBI tools. Results were synthesised according to the GRADE framework.
Results: Eight articles were found to be eligible for inclusion. Five were randomised controlled trials and three were pre-post studies. Cohorts included people with colorectal (n=3), prostate (n=2), head and neck (n=1), endometrial (n=1) and ovarian (n=1) cancer. Four studies did not test for statistical difference between groups at follow up. Of those that did, one of two studies reported a significant between-group difference in mean daily step count in favour of the intervention, and two of three studies reported a significant between-group difference in mean MVPA (minutes per day) in favour of the intervention. The body of literature was rated as very low quality due to small sample sizes, the inclusion of non-randomised studies and indirectness in one study.
Conclusion: The current review demonstrates that wearable technology may assist in increasing PA in people with cancer other than breast cancer, however, more research is required.