Exercise Therapy in Cancer Patients Who Are Recovering From COVID-19

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of a 30-week aerobic exercise therapy program in cancer patients recovering from COVID-19. The study will look at whether the aerobic exercise therapy causes few or mild side effects in participants. Aerobic exercise is physical activity that uses the large muscle groups (muscles in your legs, buttocks, back, and chest) and can be performed for several minutes at a time. The aerobic exercise therapy being used in this study will be a walking program that will be adjusted so it matches participant fitness levels (how much exercise you can handle).

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Key information

Conditions

Covid19 Behavior COVID-19 Cancer Coronaviridae Infections Coronavirus Coronavirus Infections Infections Lung Diseases Motor Activity Neoplasms Nidovirales Infections Pneumonia Pneumonia, Viral RNA Virus Infections Respiratory Tract Diseases Respiratory Tract Infections Virus Diseases

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Phase 1

Primary location

Memorial Sloan Kettering Basking Ridge (Limited Protocol Activities), Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Age ≥ 18
Previously admitted to a hospital for Covid-19
Discharged from hospital for at least 30 days
Previously treated for cancer at MSK
Interval of ≥ 12 months but ≤ 10 years following completion of primary non-hormonal anti-cancer therapy (current endocrine therapy and maintenance therapy allowed)
Space to house a treadmill at personal residence
Cleared for exercise participation as per screening clearance via the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q+)
Performing less than 90 minutes of structured moderate-intensity or strenuous-intensity exercise per week, as evaluation by self-report
If a female of child-bearing potential, must not be pregnant or planning to become pregnant during the study.

Women <50 years old who are of child-bearing potential must have a negative pregnancy test within 14 days of enrollment.

Exclusion criteria

Currently receiving home oxygen after discharge
Enrollment onto any other interventional investigational study
Current treatment for any other diagnosis of invasive cancer of any kind
Distant metastatic malignancy of any kind
Receiving non-hormonal anticancer therapy
Any other condition or intercurrent illness that, in the opinion of the investigator, makes the subject a poor candidate for study participation

Treatment and study plan

Aerobic Exercise Therapy

Other

Aerobic Exercise Therapy/AT will consist of 30 weeks of treadmill walking sessions. AT will consist of supervised, individualized walking delivered up to 6 times weekly (over a 7-day period) to achieve a cumulative total duration ranging from 90 mins/wk up to 375 mins/wk following a non-linear dosing schedule. The planned dose and scheduling of AT will be continually altered and progressed in conjunction with appropriate rest/recovery sessions across the entire intervention period (i.e., non-linear periodized schedule).

Other names: AT

Primary outcomes

Frequency of serious adverse events during study-related assessments

Time frame: 30 weeks

Safety will be evaluated by the frequency of serious (i.e., life-threatening, hospitalization, significant incapacity, important medical events) adverse events during study-related assessments and exercise sessions according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v5.0.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Exercise Therapy in Cancer Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19: A Digitized Clinical Trial

Important dates

Study start: 2021
Primary completion: 2025
Study completion: 2025
First posted: Apr 1, 2021
Registry last updated: Oct 27, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.

Completed