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Exercise Oncology...what say you?
Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Aug 10 4:35pm | Replies (77)Comment receiving replies
Actually my exercise oncology protocol is based on the “gold standard” of medical studies; the randomized clinical trial (RCT)….there’s nothing “magic” about it….of course there is never ANY guarantee with ANY PCa treatment protocol.
For example, everyone should know that 20-40% of men who undergo radical prostatectomy will experience biochemical recurrence within 10 years and there are also no guarantees with any exercise oncology protocol.
That said, randomized clinical trials often follow stricter regulatory protocols than other randomized control trials, including ethical oversight (e.g., Institutional Review Boards) and compliance with standards like Good Clinical Practice (GCP).
Single or double blinding is only possible in drug based RCT’s.
The randomized clinical trial is the “gold standard” when comparing protocols such as different surgical techniques, where “blinding” is not possible.
The exercise protocol I’ve adopted is based on the ERASE randomized clinical trial (published in August 2021); whose conclusion follows:
“The ERASE trial demonstrated that HIIT increased cardiorespiratory fitness levels and decreased PSA levels, PSA velocity, and prostate cancer cell growth in men with localized prostate cancer who were under active surveillance.“
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/fullarticle/2783273
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Thanks for the clarification. Yes, an RCT does attempt to allow for confounders, employ longitudinal studies for context, track changes in behaviour, etc to reduce exposure to accidental correlations, but that's really limited to known knowns. As we've seen recently (e.g. in the WHO's 180° reversal on the supposed benefits of red wine), it's really easy to miss a little detail that would completely change the conclusion.
(Irrelevant nerd note: The gold standard was a major contributing factor to the Great Depression and several economic depressions before that, which is why all rich countries abandoned it after WW2 in favour of fiat currencies, but that doesn't seem to have harmed its use as a metaphor. 😉)