Effects of an early postoperative walking exercise programme on health status in lung cancer patients recovering from lung lobectomy

Aims and objectives To examine the effects of an early postoperative walking exercise programme on postlobectomy lung cancer patients. Background Few interventional studies on the postoperative health status of lung cancer patients have considered the efficacy of programmes designed to improve critical health variables. Design A two‐group quasi‐experimental, longitudinal approach repeated four times examined participant data collected 12–18 hours prior to surgery and again at one, three and six months after surgery. Methods We assigned the first 33 enrolled participants to the intervention group and the second 33 to the control group. The intervention was a daily supervised walking exercise programme consisting of 12 weeks of brisk walking exercise that began on the day following transfer to the regular ward along with weekly telephone calls until 12 weeks after discharge. Health status was measured using a structured questionnaire (World Health Organization Quality of Life, brief version) and clinical tests (pulmonary function test and 6‐minute walk test). We analysed data using general estimating equations, with p