The relationship between healthy lifestyle behaviours and outcomes for people living with and beyond cancer: an overview of Systematic Reviews

Abstract

There are an extensive number of published evidence reviews examining the influence of lifestyle behaviours on cancer outcomes. Healthy lifestyles are a significant topic of debate in oncology and in policy and practice organisations that support people living with and beyond cancer. Such reviews vary in quality, address different relationships, outcomes and cancers, and there is often more than one review on important topics. This makes it difficult for policy and practice professionals to make decisions about the prescription and promotion of lifestyle behaviours for cancer populations. An overview of systematic reviews provides a single, overarching summary of evidence from published systematic reviews and compares and contrasts the findings of systematic reviews, providing healthcare professionals with the evidence needed for more effective decision making (Smith et al. 2011). This overview of systematic reviews synthesises evidence from systematic reviews on smoking, physical activity, dietary behaviours and alcohol consumption to present a summary of evidence about the relationships between these lifestyle behaviours and outcomes for people living with and beyond cancer.