BACKGROUND: The main aim of this systematic review was to determine the effectiveness of postoperative rehabilitation interventions that include breathing exercises as a component to prevent atelectasis in lung cancer resection patients. METHODS: In this review, we systematically and comprehensively searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science in English and CNKI and Wanfang in Chinese from 2012 to 2022. The review included any randomized controlled trials focusing on the effectiveness of postoperative rehabilitation interventions that include breathing exercises to prevent pulmonary atelectasis in lung cancer patients. Participants who underwent anatomic pulmonary resection and received postoperative rehabilitation interventions that included breathing exercises as a component were included in this review. The study quality and risks of bias were measured with the GRADE and Cochrane Collaboration tools, and statistical analysis was performed utilizing RevMan 5.3 software. RESULTS: The incidence of atelectasis was significantly lower in the postoperative rehabilitation intervention group (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.67, I2 0%, p = 0.67) than in the control group. The patients who underwent the postoperative rehabilitation program that included breathing exercises (intervention group) had higher forced vital capacity (FVC) scores (MD 0.24, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.41, I2 73%, p = 0.02), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) scores (MD 0.31, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.60, I2 98%, p < 0.01) and FEV1/FVC ratios (MD 9.09, 95% CI 1.50 to 16.67, I2 94%, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Postoperative rehabilitation interventions that included breathing exercises decreased the incidence rate of atelectasis and improved lung function by increasing the FVC, FEV1, and FEV1/FVC ratio.

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