Muna Al-Khaifi, Lead of Breast Cancer Survivorship Program and GP oncologist, Skin Cancer Clinic at Sunnybrook, shared a post on LinkedIn about a paper by Christopher M. Booth et al. published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology:
“Exercise is Medicine – Proven.
The landmark CCTG CO.21 CHALLENGE Trial provides the most definitive evidence to date that structured exercise improves survival in cancer survivors.
Study Overview
- 889 patients with stage II–III colon cancer after surgery + adjuvant chemotherapy
- Randomized to 3 years of supervised aerobic exercise (~2.5 h/week) vs usual health education
- Median follow-up: 8 years
- Disease-Free Survival: 80.3 % vs 73.9 % (HR 0.72; p = 0.02)
- Overall Survival: 90.3 % vs 83.2 % (HR 0.63; p = 0.03)
Key Messages
- Exercise acts as a therapeutic intervention, not merely a lifestyle choice.
- Reduces recurrence and cancer-related mortality.
- Benefits are sustained long-term when activity is maintained.
- Feasible and safe for most survivors when guided by trained professionals.
- Should be prescribed and integrated into survivorship care pathways alongside medical follow-up.
- Reflects a paradigm shift: moving from ‘exercise for quality of life’ to ‘exercise for survival.’
- Supports multidisciplinary collaboration — oncology, rehabilitation, physiotherapy, and primary care.
Clinical Implication:
Every survivor deserves an individualized exercise plan. Incorporating physical-activity counselling into survivorship visits can save lives.”
Title: A randomized phase III trial of the impact of a structured exercise program on disease-free survival (DFS) in stage 3 or high-risk stage 2 colon cancer: Canadian Cancer Trials Group (CCTG) CO.21 (CHALLENGE).
Authors: Christopher M. Booth, Janette L. Vardy, Christopher J. O’Callaghan, Sharlene Gill, Christine Friedenreich, Rebecca KS Wong, Haryana M. Dhillon, Victoria Coyle, Neil Sun Chua, Derek J. Jonker, Philip James Beale, Kamal Haider, Patricia A. Tang, Tony Bonaventura, Ralph Wong, Howard J. Lim, Matthew E. Burge, Patti O’Brien, Dongsheng Tu, and Kerry S. Courneya
You can read the Full Article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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