Background

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetically inherited disease characterised by impaired mucus clearance leading to chronic infective and inflammatory lung disease, nutritional malabsorption due to pancreatic insufficiency, and excessively salty sweat.1 The median predicted survival age is now over 37 years.2

Regular exercise may combat the respiratory manifestations of the disease by improving mucus clearance by increasing ventilation and peak expiratory flow, and perhaps by altering some physical properties of the mucus so that expectoration is easier.3 However, regulation of salt, fluid and heat may be disrupted by exercise.

Aim

Bradley and Moran aimed to identify and pool the best available evidence on the effects of physical training versus no physical training on exercise capacity, strength and respiratory function in people with CF.

Searches and inclusion criteria

Three key biomedical databases and relevant conference proceedings were searched. To be eligible for inclusion in the review, studies were required to have used a randomised or quasi-randomised design to compare a prescribed regimen of physical training with no training. However, studies were excluded if the physical training consisted of respiratory muscle training only or if the participants did not have …