The secondary outcome measures (muscle strength of upper and lower limbs, quality of life and body mass index) were also included for analysis, if reported. Data extraction was performed Anticancer Compound Library supplier by a single researcher (VP) under the supervision of the second author (DR) using forms developed and pilot tested for this review.36 Additionally, three authors of the included studies were contacted through emails for further data because they were presented in dichotomous format. However, only one author21 replied and provided the required

data. Meta-analyses were performed wherever appropriate data were available, and narrative syntheses are presented

otherwise.32 and 37 The continuous outcomes in the included studies were typically reported with different scales, so standardised mean differences (SMD) find more were calculated with a random-effects model and reported with a 95% CI. Lymphoedema incidence data were pooled and reported as relative risk with a 95% CI.38 Additionally, subgroup analysis was attempted wherever sufficient data were available to compare slow progressive and moderate-intensity exercise groups. After screening of the search results, 11 papers reporting eight trials were included in the review. Figure 1 depicts the flow of studies through this review. In the eleven included papers, seven were from the United States of America.21, 22, 39, 40, 41, 42 and 43 Among these seven papers, three of them39, 41 and 42 were from a single trial called Weight Training for Breast Cancer Survivors (WTBS); they were considered as a single trial in the present review. Another three papers from the

United States of America21, 22 and 43 were from a trial named Physical Activity and Lymphoedema (PAL); this trial was conducted with two distinctive objectives with adequate power.21 and 22 Thus, they were considered as two independent trials for the present review. The last trial from the United States of America out was a study by Anderson and colleagues,40 which included 30 minutes of walking with the resistance training. It was included in the present review in view of the fact that the walking component would give negligible aerobic activity to the upper limb. The other four trials were from Canada,26 Norway,44 Australia45 and the Republic of Korea.46 The individual items achieved by each of the included trials are presented in Table 1. As discussed above, blinding of participants and therapists is impractical, so no trials achieved this. All the included trials met the external validity item by specifying the eligibility criteria and source of participants.