Patients with higher muscle strength typically fared better (Image: Getty)
Lifting weights and doing aerobic such as walking, running or swimming may boost patients’ survival chances, research suggests.
A study of almost 47,000 sufferers found those who had good muscular strength and physical had a lower risk of dying early.
The strongest patients with the highest cardiorespiratory fitness levels were up to 46% less likely to die during the period examined than the weakest patients.
Led by Dr Francesco Bettariga, researchers at Edith Cowan University in Western , concluded that giving patients “tailored exercise prescriptions” could raise their survival chances.
They wrote in the British Journal of Sports Medicine: “Our findings highlight that muscle strength could potentially be used in clinical practice to determine mortality risk in cancer patients in advanced stages and, therefore, muscle strengthening activities could be employed to increase life expectancy.”
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Taking fitness and muscle strength into account is “crucial for predicting mortality in cancer patients”, the paper added.
The link between fitness and reduced death risk was strongest in patients with advanced cancer stages or lung and digestive cancers.
Cardiorespiratory fitness can be increased through aerobic exercise which increases your heart rate and the body’s ability to use oxygen.
Examples include running, cycling, swimming, dancing or interval training.
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The research comes after Macmillan Cancer Support predicted that .
The charity’s analysis suggests 3.4 million will have been diagnosed by the end of December – roughly half a million more than five years ago.
Cases are being fuelled by a growing and ageing population, a gradual rise in survival rates for some cancers and an increase in people diagnosed with types such as thyroid, liver and melanoma.