Effect of home-based walking exercise and education on early functional recovery after lung cancer surgery: protocol for the WalkLung multicentre randomised controlled trial.

Abstract

Walking, as a simple, low-cost and easily implemented form of exercise, offers multiple health advantages. The WalkLung trial aims to evaluate the efficacy of a home-based walking exercise and education intervention in promoting early functional recovery after lung cancer surgery. WalkLung is a multicentre, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial conducted at three hospitals in China, with stratification by study centre. A total of 116 patients with postoperative lung cancer will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio to either the intervention group (home-based walking exercise and education for 4 weeks) or the control group (usual care). The primary outcome is the longitudinal walking difficulty score during the 4-week postdischarge, measured by the validated perioperative symptom assessment for lung surgery scale (0-10 scale), assessed at discharge and weekly for 4 weeks. Secondary outcomes are the 6-min walk test, pulmonary function, complications, physical activity level, quality of life, social functioning, exercise adherence and adverse events. Long-term outcomes (up to 6 months) will be analysed and reported separately. All analyses will use an intention-to-treat approach, with outcome measures analysed as appropriate using generalised estimating equations for repeated measures, and t-tests or χ² tests. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee for Medical Research and New Medical Technology of Sichuan Cancer Hospital (No. SCCHEC-02-2025-091) and all participating subcentres. Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants. The manuscript is based on protocol V.1.0 (2 January 2025). The study findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal publications and conference presentations. ChiCTR2500103081.