Mediators of exercise intervention effects among cancer patients

In order to better learn how and why exercise interventions may help cancer survivors to gain better health and quality of life, we need more insight in the so-called mediators of the effects of exercise interventions for cancer survivors. The POLARIS study-that I reported here on before- was especially designed for this purpose.
This week an earlier explorative study to shed light on mediators of exercise interventions among cancer survivors was published in the journal Cancer. This study looked at mediators of the resistance and aerobic exercise intervention effect on physical and general health in men undergoing androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer.
The exercise intervention was found to significantly improve physical and general health. Upper body muscle strength and walking speed significantly mediated the intervention effect on physical health  accounting for 53% of the total effect. Walking speed and fatigue were found to be mediators of the effect on general health, accounting for 51% of the total effect.