KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The systematic reviews and meta-analyses aimed to evaluate the association between physical activity and GC risk.
- The study concluded physical activity may reduce GC risk, but more research is needed to confirm this.
Gastric cancer (GC) is a highly lethal malignancy, ranking as the 4th most common cancer and the 2nd leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide.
Mahsa Maleki and the team aimed to conduct an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses to evaluate the extent and reliability of the claimed association between physical activity and the risk of developing or dying from GC.
The study followed the Joanna Briggs Institute’s (JBI) methods for umbrella reviews. Researchers conducted a systematic search in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and ProQuest databases through July 2024 using predefined keywords and 2 independent reviewers assessed the risk of bias in the included studies using the JBI critical appraisal tool for systematic review quality. Any disagreements between the reviewers were resolved through discussion or by consulting a 3rd reviewer.
About 5 systematic reviews were included in the analysis, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the inverse relationship between physical activity and gastric cancer risk. This review offers stronger evidence than previous studies, indicating that moderate-to-high levels of physical activity significantly reduce the overall risk of developing gastric cancer.
The study concluded that while physical activity appears linked to a reduced risk of gastric cancer, further research is needed to understand the mechanisms and quantify the impact due to limitations in the current evidence.
This study was funded with the authors’ own contributions.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39135152/
Maleki M, Fatehi V, Mohammadzadeh Z.(2024). “The association between physical activity and risk of gastric cancer; an umbrella review.” BMC Gastroenterol. 2024;24(1):261. Published 2024 Aug 12. doi:10.1186/s12876-024-03360-2
