SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Thoracic Oncology
The impact of traditional mind–body exercises on pulmonary function, exercise capacity, and quality of life in patients with lung cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: A systematic evaluation of the clinical effects of mind-body traditional Chinese exercises (Qigong, Taichi, Baduanjin, Liuzijue and Wuqinxi) lung cancer patients. Methods: Systematic searches of PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and China Knowledge Network (CNKI), Wan fang, China Biology Medicine disc (CBM), and VIP were performed from the time of library construction to August 20, 2025. Lung cancer patients were included in the study, and the interventions were Qigong, Taichi, Baduanjin, Liuzijue or Wuqinxi, and the control group was conventional treatment or other non-exercise interventions. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 15. Results: 22 randomized controlled studies involving 1827 patients including, meta-analysis results suggested that mind-body traditional Chinese exercises were able to reduce anxiety scores [SMD=-1.05, 95%CI (- 1.34, -0.76)], depression scores [SMD=- 1.05, 95%CI (- 1.26, -0.82)], PSQI [SMD=-0.67, 95%CI (-1.17, -0.17)] and increase 6MWT [WMD=31.24, 95%CI (19.54, 42.95)], quality of life scores [SMD=0.85, 95%CI (0.36, 1.34)], FEV1 [WMD=0.14, 95%CI (0.06, 0.23)],FVC [WMD=0.08, 95%CI (0.02, 0.15)] in lung cancer patients. Conclusion: In this study, the results showed that the mind-body traditional Chinese exercises maybe significantly improve the patients' anxiety, depression, sleep quality, exercise capacity, lung function and quality of life.
Keywords: Qigong, Taichi, Baduanjin, Liuzijue, Wuqinx, lung cancer, Meta-analysis
Received: 30 Sep 2025; Accepted: 20 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Zhang, Zhang, Yin, Wang, Li, Xiao and Tang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhanying Tang, tzy79@126.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.