Clinical trial · Interventional
SURfit - A Physical Activity Intervention for Childhood Cancer Survivors
Effects of a 1-year Partially Supervised Exercise Program in Childhood Cancer Survivors - a Randomized Controlled Trial
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Exercise can play a major role to mitigate or even prevent late effects in cancer survivors, such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, osteoporosis, fatigue, depression, reduced quality of life, mental health and physical performance. The objective of this study is to assess the effect of an exercise program of 1 year on cardiovascular health, obesity and diabetes, osteoporosis, physical fitness, mental health and quality of life in childhood cancer survivors. The investigators will recruit childhood cancer survivors aged 16 years and above from three Swiss paediatric oncology clinics and randomize them into an intervention and a control group. The intervention group will be asked to increase physical activity for 1 year by at least 2.5 hours of intense physical activity weekly. Regular feedback will be given via a step counter, an online activity diary, and by the centre staff. The control group participants will keep their activity level constant. All participants will be seen after 3, 6 and 12 months to assess health and quality of life parameters over one year. After 1 year, the control group is offered to receive the same intervention to profit as well from an active lifestyle. If the program shows to be effective, a complete package will become available to interested centres treating paediatric cancer patients in Switzerland to promote exercise in all survivors. The program will allow clinicians without previous experience in exercise counselling to improve the care of their patients.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late-effects of Childhood Cancer | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| partially supervised exercise intervention | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Intervention Group
- description
- Partially supervised exercise intervention: Survivors in the intervention group will be asked to add at least 2.5 hours of intense physical activities per week. These should include at least 30 min of strength building exercises and 2 hours of aerobic exercises per week. Exercise bouts lasting 20 min or longer will be counted with respect to total weekly training time.
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: partially supervised exercise intervention
- type
- NO_INTERVENTION
- label
- Control Group
- description
- The control group will keep their physical activity level constant over the 1 year of the study. Thereafter, they will have the opportunity to receive the same intervention than the intervention group had received (off-trial) to benefit in the same way from an active lifestyle.
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Composite cardiovascular risk score [z-score]
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 16 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Registered in the Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry. * Age at cancer diagnosis \<16 years. * Diagnosed with a cancer classifiable within the International Classification of Childhood Cancer (ICCC-3) or diagnosed with a Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis. * Diagnosed and/or treated at the University Children's Hospital Basel, Cantonal Hospital of Aarau and/or Cantonal Hospital of Lucerne. * Survived ≥5 years since primary cancer diagnosis or any subsequent cancer event (relapse or further cancer diagnoses) * Age at the time of the study ≥16 years * Informed Consent as documented by signature Exclusion Criteria: * Participation in another clinical trial \<4 weeks prior to baseline assessment (eventually later re-enrolment) * Contradiction to one of the inclusion criteria mentioned above * Inability to exercise * Exercise potentially harmful * Women who are pregnant or breast feeding * Women who intend to become pregnant during the course of the study * Instable clinical condition (eventually later re-enrolment) * Under treatment for relapse or further cancer diagnoses * Cardiac arrhythmias under exercise (during baseline assessment or by history) * Diagnosis of diabetes \<3 months ago (eventually re-enrolment after 3 months if diabetes is under good control) * Detection of a clinical condition that needs immediate treatment during baseline assessments (eventually re-enrolment after 3 months if in stable clinical condition) * Planned relevant surgeries for the next 12 months * Major musculoskeletal injuries, fractures \<2 months ago (eventually later re-enrolment) * Recent change in medication that interfere with the parameters of the CVD risk score (primary outcome) \<1 month ago (eventually later re-enrolment) * \>4 hours of reported vigorous activities per week * Inability to follow the procedures and understand the intervention and assessments of the study e.g. due to cognitive impairment, language problems, psychological disorders etc.
References
Publications (8)
- BACKGROUNDJung R, Zurcher SJ, Schindera C, Eser P, Meier C, Schai A, Braun J, Deng WH, Hebestreit H, Neuhaus C, Schaeff J, Rueegg CS, von der Weid NX, Kriemler S. Effect of a physical activity intervention on lower body bone health in childhood cancer survivors: A randomized controlled trial (SURfit). Int J Cancer. 2023 Jan 15;152(2):162-171. doi: 10.1002/ijc.34234. Epub 2022 Aug 26. PMID 35913755
- BACKGROUNDZurcher SJ, Jung R, Monnerat S, Schindera C, Eser P, Meier C, Rueegg CS, von der Weid NX, Kriemler S. High impact physical activity and bone health of lower extremities in childhood cancer survivors: A cross-sectional study of SURfit. Int J Cancer. 2020 Oct 1;147(7):1845-1854. doi: 10.1002/ijc.32963. Epub 2020 Mar 25. PMID 32167159
- BACKGROUNDRueegg CS, Kriemler S, Zuercher SJ, Schindera C, Renner A, Hebestreit H, Meier C, Eser P, von der Weid NX. A partially supervised physical activity program for adult and adolescent survivors of childhood cancer (SURfit): study design of a randomized controlled trial [NCT02730767]. BMC Cancer. 2017 Dec 5;17(1):822. doi: 10.1186/s12885-017-3801-8. PMID 29207962
- RESULTRueegg CS, Zurcher SJ, Schindera C, Jung R, Deng WH, Banteli I, Schaeff J, Hebestreit H, von der Weid NX, Kriemler S. Effect of a 1-year physical activity intervention on cardiovascular health in long-term childhood cancer survivors-a randomised controlled trial (SURfit). Br J Cancer. 2023 Oct;129(8):1284-1297. doi: 10.1038/s41416-023-02410-y. Epub 2023 Aug 31. PMID 37653075
- RESULTDeng WH, Zurcher SJ, Schindera C, Jung R, Hebestreit H, Banteli I, Bologna K, von der Weid NX, Kriemler S, Rueegg CS. Effect of a 1-year physical activity intervention on quality of life, fatigue, and distress in adult childhood cancer survivors-A randomized controlled trial (SURfit). Cancer. 2024 May 15;130(10):1869-1883. doi: 10.1002/cncr.35207. Epub 2024 Feb 5. PMID 38315522
- RESULTSchindera C, Zurcher SJ, Jung R, Boehringer S, Balder JW, Rueegg CS, Kriemler S, von der Weid NX. Physical fitness and modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors in survivors of childhood cancer: A report from the SURfit study. Cancer. 2021 May 15;127(10):1690-1698. doi: 10.1002/cncr.33351. Epub 2021 Jan 6.