Table 2 Research recommendations for people living with cancer, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and HIV

Cancer

Conduct prospective cohort studies of cancer survivors to include cancer sites for which there is limited or no evidence of an association between physical activity and all cancer outcomes (i.e. cancer recurrence, new primary cancers, cancer-specific mortality and all-cause mortality).

Conduct prospective cohort studies of cancer survivors that include repeated self-report and device-based measures of physical activity to determine the long-term effects of physical activity on cancer outcomes.

Conduct prospective cohort studies of cancer survivors within understudied populations as defined by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, cancer stage (i.e. advanced or metastatic cancers), or cancer treatment (e.g. cardiotoxic drugs, radiotherapy, hormone treatments)

Conduct prospective cohort studies in cancer survivors that include objective measures of health-related fitness and follow-up for cancer outcomes.

Conduct randomized controlled intervention trials in cancer survivors to assess the impact of physical activity on cancer outcomes. Trials should include assessments of different domains, types, and doses of physical activity and their impact on specific cancer types.

Type 2 Diabetes

Conduct studies that include both self-report and importantly, device-based measures of physical activity and sedentary time to determine whether measurement modality influences associations with health outcomes, particularly co-morbid conditions, disease progression indicators, physical function, and health related quality of life.

Conduct RCTs comparing the effects of shifting time from specific forms of sedentary behavior to low-intensity aerobic activity, moderate-intensity aerobic activity, low-intensity muscle-strengthening activity, and moderate-intensity muscle-strengthening activity on indicators of risk of progression of type 2 diabetes.

Conduct further systematic and coordinated RCTs on the health effects of tai chi, qigong, and yoga in people with type 2 diabetes to improve this emerging evidence base.

Conduct research on whether or not individual characteristics (e.g. sex, disease progression) influence the effects of physical activity interventions on health outcomes in people with type 2 diabetes.

Hypertension

Conduct studies with greater homogeneity in population characteristics across the studies included in systematic reviews (i.e., exclusively adults with hypertension) to strengthen the evidence on the association between physical activity and comorbid conditions, physical function, health-related quality of life, and disease progression.

Conduct prospective cohort studies of adults with hypertension using device-based measures of physical activity to determine the dose-response relationship between physical activity and disease progression outcomes.

Conduct prospective cohort studies of adults with hypertension within understudied populations as defined by race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and disease progression.

Conduct prospective cohort studies in adults with hypertension that include objective measures of physical function and ratings of health-related quality of life.

Conduct RCTs in adults with hypertension to assess the impact of physical activity on disease progression outcomes. Trials should include assessments of different domains, types, and doses of physical activity and their impact on disease progression.

People Living with HIV

Conduct studies on the association between physical activity and health outcomes in people living with HIV living in low- to moderate-income countries.

Conduct RCTs with intention-to-treat analyses to address high attrition and reduce heterogeneity between studies.

Conduct RCTs testing different types and doses of exercise on health outcomes in people living with HIV.

Conduct studies using both self-report and device-based measures of physical activity and sedentary behaviors to improve the quantification of these behaviors.

Conduct studies that test directly the potential interactions between physical activity and the highly active anti-retroviral therapy on health outcomes such as body composition, cardiometabolic risk and disease progression.