Football for cancer . . . and other stories

Football for prostate cancer

Two hundred men with prostate cancer were randomised either to an offer of free football training at a local club or to usual treatment plus a recommendation to pursue an active life (PLoS Med doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002936). The intervention was a success in so far as more than half of the footballing participants continued even when they had to pay their own membership fees after the trial ended. But it was a failure in that it didn’t lead to better ratings of prostate-cancer-specific quality of life, which was the primary outcome of the trial. Several secondary outcomes improved, including bone …