Changes in Self-Reported and Device-Measured Physical Activity Before Abdominal Resection Surgery: A Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of interventions on physical activity levels of patients awaiting abdominal resection surgery using self-reported as well as device-measured outcome measures.

DATA SOURCE: PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched on the 18 th of April 2023 up to April 2023 for studies on interventions to promote physical activity during the preoperative phase.

REVIEW METHODS: Studies were included if pre- and post-intervention physical activity was measured between diagnosis and abdominal surgery. Risk of bias was assessed by the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) assessment tool for trials. Meta-analyses were performed to assess the effect of the pre-surgery activity promoting interventions on self-reported and device-measured physical activity.

RESULTS: Seventeen studies were included in the analysis with 452 subjects in the intervention groups. The random-effect meta-analysis showed a moderate improvement in intervention groups measures in pre-surgery physical activity levels compared to the baseline (SMD = 0.67, [CI = 0.30;1.03], I 2  = 79%). The self-reported subgroup meta-analysis showed the largest increase in performed physical activity, (SMD = 0.78, [CI = 0.4;1.15], I 2  = 79%) whilst non-significant increase was shown in the device-measured subgroup (SMD = 0.16, [CI = -0.64;0.97], I 2  = 58%).

CONCLUSION: Increasing physical activity in the preoperative phase is feasible. Self-reported physical activity outcome measures show larger effects compared to device-measured outcome measures. More high-quality research should be performed utilizing objective measures.