Summary of best evidence for exercise management in lung cancer patients during chemotherapy

Exercise management during chemotherapy may help address treatment-related functional decline, but lung-cancer-specific recommendations remain fragmented. We therefore retrieved, appraised, and synthesized evidence on exercise management for patients with lung cancer receiving chemotherapy. This evidence summary followed the evidence-based nursing framework of Fudan University and the 6S evidence pyramid. Guideline repositories, professional association websites, trial registries, and bibliographic databases were searched from inception to 1 August 2026 for best-practice documents, guidelines, evidence summaries, systematic reviews, expert consensus statements, and randomized controlled trials concerning exercise management during chemotherapy for lung cancer. Thirteen sources were included, comprising six guidelines, three expert consensus statements, and four randomized controlled trials. Thirty-two evidence statements were synthesized across six domains: pre-exercise screening, pre-exercise assessment, intra-exercise monitoring, indications for exercise cessation, post-exercise evaluation, and managing chemotherapy complications. The synthesized evidence supports structured, safety-oriented exercise management for patients with lung cancer receiving chemotherapy. Implementation should be individualized according to evidence strength and applicability, clinical context, treatment status, patient capacity, and preferences, with ongoing assessment and monitoring. This evidence summary was registered with the Fudan University Centre for Evidence-based Nursing (Registration No. ES20258821).