Participants and study design
Between April and August 2018, consecutive patients were invited to attend professionally-supervised sessions of physical exercise in the hospital gym28 as part of this study. The exercise sessions each lasted one hour, and included combinations of cardiovascular training, strength and endurance exercises, relaxation, and muscle stretching. They were prescribed individually for each patient, offered three times a week, for a total duration of 6 weeks.
Inclusion criteria were: age ≥5 years and less than 21 years; a diagnosis of solid cancer; the ability to communicate in Italian. The only exclusion criterion was the presence of limitations (disability and/o severe morbidities) preventing any level of physical activity. In principle, severe disabilities (e.g. lower extremity amputation, or palsy) were not regarded as a contraindication if patients were able to exercise with adapted personalized workouts involving the less compromised parts of their body.
Based on their own decision to join the exercise program or not, the patients involved in the study formed two groups (GYM and No-GYM, respectively) and were compared in descriptive terms. Consent to participation in the study was obtained from all patients and/or their guardians. The institutional Ethics Committee approved the study (INT 109/18) and the data protection methods.