For patients with multiple myeloma (MM), exercise interventions appear safe and well attended, according to a study published in Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma & Leukemia. Jennifer L. Nicol and colleagues conducted a systematic review assessing the efficacy, feasibility, and safety of an exercise program on the psychological and physiological health of patients with MM. Seven studies with 563 participants were included. All studies concluded that exercise was safe and reported just four adverse events, none of which were serious. Attendance ranged from 58% to 96%, although no study reported adherence to the exercise prescription. Exercise did not appear to affect participants’ anxiety, body composition, depression, fatigue, QOL, or sleep, when compared with those of a control group. Isolated studies identified between-group differences favoring exercise physical activity (+6.5 metabolic equivalent of task-hours/week; P<0.001), peak oxygen uptake (+1.2 mL/kg/min; P=0.02), lower limb strength (+8.4 kg; P=0.04), stem cell collection attempts (1.1±0.2 vs 1.5±0.9; P<0.01), and red blood cell (1.8±2.2 vs 2.4±2.6; P<0.05) and platelet transfusions (2.3±1.6 vs 3.5±3.4; P<0.05) during transplantation.
