Using eHealth to support exercise and physical activity in patients with hematological malignancies in face of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: systematic review

Background Hematological malignancies are considered highly heterogenous, ranging from potentially curable to being associated with devastating prognosis. In on-going pandemic of severe acute respiratory coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2 ) taking care of immunocompromised cancer patients sufficiently turns out to be even more challenging than before. Since several articles on feasibility and benefit of exercise interventions in this population have been published, these emphasized absolute necessity of physical activity and exercise during and after chemotherapeutic treatment to improve patient’s quality of life (QoL) and enable rehabilitation. Yet, current restrictions and social distancing orders make face-to-face supervised trainings therapy difficult urging for an alternative approach. Aims We aimed to tackle current lacking evidence on use of electronic devices or application-assisted exercise while on-going treatment and at follow-up of patients with hematological malignancies.
Methods
To address the research issue, a systematical review using literature search on Pub Med was conducted. By two predefined search terms relevant articles published from May 2010 to May 2020 were selected. Papers which passed through three consecutive standardized selection steps were included. Results Twenty-seven articles with 2233 patients (median 37; IQR 17-115,5) in total were involved, consisting of exercise interventions in leukemic malignancies (n=8), lymphoma (n=7), multiple myeloma (n=6) and use of electronic devices in malignancies in general (n=6). Discussion Future holds great options for supportive use of electronic devices and applications, since they are getting more economical and practicable. However, as data on promoting exercise in hematological malignancies is still rare and each patient is individual, human therapists’ expertise is still indispensable.