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], I² = 79%). The self-reported subgroup meta-analysis showed the largest increase in performed physical activity, (SMD = 0.78, [CI = 0.4;1.15], I² = 79%) whilst non-significant increase was shown in the device-measured subgroup (SMD = 0.16, [CI = −0.64;0.97], I²= 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.