ArticleCancer medicine2026
Baseline Characteristics of Participants in the Exercise for Cancer to Enhance Living Well (EXCEL) Study: A Canada-Wide Rural-Urban Analysis.
Article in Cancer medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- EXCEL-Punjabi: the process of using a community based participatory research approach for a culturally-tailored exercise oncology intervention.Research involvement and engagement · 2026Article
- Scalable Community-Based Exercise to Support Physical Activity in Cancer Care: A Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Study.Cancers · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionExercise interventions improve quality of life and survival for individuals living with and beyond cancer (ILWBC), yet equitable access remains limited. Evidence on characteristics of who enrolls in exercise oncology programs is scarce, leaving gaps for equity-focused recruitment and scale-up, particularly in rural and underserved settings. The EXercise for Cancer to Enhance Living Well (EXCEL) study offers a unique opportunity to examine these issues across a Canada-wide cohort.
methodsEXCEL is an 8-12-week tailored exercise intervention delivered primarily to ILWBC in rural/remote communities, with additional enrollment of urban participants lacking exercise oncology resources. Adults with any cancer type or stage were eligible if pre-treatment, receiving treatment, or within 3 years post-treatment. This analysis describes baseline demographic, lifestyle, medical, and fitness factors by rural versus urban residence using descriptive statistics.
resultsOf 1495 participants enrolled in the EXCEL program (rural n = 1085; urban n = 400), baseline characteristics differed modestly by geography. Age did not differ significantly between rural and urban participants. Rural participants were more often male, had lower educational attainment, and demonstrated higher BMI than urban participants. Urban participants exhibited greater ethnic diversity and higher levels of education. Physical activity levels were similar with 78% classified as physically active at baseline.
conclusionThis Canada-wide baseline analysis reveals rural-urban variations in age, treatment status, disease burden, education, and lifestyle, yet comparable physical activity and functional capacity levels. These findings provide descriptive evidence to inform recruitment strategies and considerations for exercise oncology program delivery across geographic settings.
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