OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of exercise interventions on sleep disturbances and sleep quality in patients with mixed cancer diagnoses, and identify demographic, clinical, and intervention-related moderators of these effects.METHODS: Individual patient data (IPD) and aggregated meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Using data from the Predicting OptimaL cAncer RehabIlitation and Supportive care project, IPD of 2173 adults (mean age = 54.8) with cancer from 17 RCTs were analyzed. A complementary systematic search was conducted (until November 2018) to study the overall effects and test the representativeness of analyzed IPD. Effect sizes of exercise effects on self-reported sleep outcomes were calculated for all included RCTs. Linear mixed-effect models were used to evaluate the effects of exercise on post-intervention outcome values, adjusting for baseline values. Moderator effects were studied by testing interactions for demographic, clinical and intervention-related characteristics.RESULTS: For all 27 eligible RCTs from the updated search, exercise interventions significantly decreased sleep disturbances in adults with cancer (g = -0.09, 95% CI [-0.16; -0.02]). No significant effect was obtained for sleep quality. RCTs included in IPD analyses constituted a representative sample of the published literature. The intervention effects on sleep disturbances were not significantly moderated by any demographic, clinical, or intervention-related factor, nor by sleep disturbances.CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis provides some evidence that, compared to control conditions, exercise interventions may improve sleep disturbances, but not sleep quality, in cancer patients, although this effect is of a small magnitude. Among the investigated variables, none was found to significantly moderate the effect of exercise interventions on sleep disturbances.
Background: Sarcopenic obesity (SO) is an increasing phenomenon and has been linked to several negative health consequences. The aim of this umbrella review is the assessment of effectiveness and certainty of evidence of nutrition and exercise interventions in persons with SO. Method: We searched for meta-analyses of RCTs in PubMed, EMBASE and CENTRAL that had been conducted in the last five years, focusing on studies on the treatment and prevention of SO. The primary endpoints were parameters for SO, such as body fat in %, skeletal muscle mass index (SMMI), gait speed, leg strength and grip strength. The methodological quality was evaluated using AMSTAR and the certainty of evidence was assessed using GRADE. Results: Four systematic reviews with between 30 to 225 participants were included in the umbrella review. These examined four exercise interventions, two nutrition interventions and four interventions that combined nutrition and exercise. Resistance training was the most frequently studied intervention and was found to improve gait speed by 0.14 m/s to 0.17 m/s and lower leg strength by 9.97 kg. Resistance, aerobic, mixed exercise and hypocaloric diet combined with protein supplementation is not significantly effective on selected outcomes for persons with SO compared to no intervention. The low number of primary studies included in the reviews resulted in moderate to very low certainty of evidence. Conclusion: Despite the lack in certainty of evidence, resistance training may be a suitable intervention for persons with SO, in particular for improving muscle function. Nevertheless, further research is necessary to strengthen the evidence.
To gain insight into changes of scholarly journals’ recommendations, we conducted a systematic review of studies that analysed journals’ Instructions to Authors (ItAs). We summarised results of 153 studies, and meta-analysed how often ItAs addressed: 1) authorship, 2) conflicts of interest, 3) data sharing, 4) ethics approval, 5) funding disclosure, and 6) International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts. For each topic we found large between-study heterogeneity. Here, we show six factors that explained most of that heterogeneity: 1) time (addressing of topics generally increased over time), 2) country (large differences found between countries), 3) database indexation (large differences found between databases), 4) impact factor (topics were more often addressed in highest than in lowest impact factor journals), 5) discipline (topics were more often addressed in Health Sciences than in other disciplines), and 6) sub-discipline (topics were more often addressed in general than in sub-disciplinary journals).
Ruim 10% van de Nederlandse bevolking heeft chronische nierschade. Jaarlijks komen er zo’n 2.000 patiënten met nierfalen bij. Bij terminaal nierfalen is uiteindelijk nierfunctie vervangende therapie noodzakelijk (1, 2). Nierfalen en nierfunctievervangende therapie hebben grote invloed op de voedingstoestand van de patiënt wat leidt tot ondervoeding wat zich uit in verlies van spiermassa, spierkracht, verminderde zelfredzaamheid, verminderd fysiek functioneren, hogere mortaliteit, meer ziekenhuis opnames en een lagere kwaliteit van leven (3). Gezien deze associatie kan een interventie die het verlies van spiermassa kan voorkomen, grote impact hebben voor nierpatiënten. Echter is er nog geen informatie over de voedselinname van de Nederlandse hemodialysepatiënt. Dit belemmert de diëtetiek in het optimaal behandelen van hemodialysepatiënten. In samenwerking met het kennisnetwerk Diëtisten Nierziekten Nederland (DNN) en MKB hebben wij de volgende vragen gedefinieerd: 1) Wat is de huidige dagelijkse inname van macro- en micronutriënten van hemodialysepatiënten en 2) Bestaan er effectieve interventies op het gebeid van voeding en beweging om spiermassa verlies te voorkomen en/of te behandelen? Samenvattend bestaat dit voorstel uit de volgende activiteiten: Werkpakket 1: Landelijk multicenter studie naar de huidige inname van macro- en micronutriënten van hemodialysepatiënten, Werkpakket 2: Formeren van (inter)nationaal netwerk van professionals en wetenschappers die zich focussen op de rol van voeding en beweging bij nierziekten aangevuld met patiënten perspectief vanuit de patiëntenverenigingen, Werkpakket 3: Systematic review naar effectieve voedings- en beweeginterventies bij patiënten met nierfalen en Werkpakket 4: Het schrijven van een projectvoorstel dat de behoefte, rol en implementatie van eiwitrijke voeding en beweging onderzoekt op het behoud en/of verbeteren van spiermassa, fysiek functioneren en kwaliteit van leven van mensen met een nierziekte.