Prescribing Fitbits to cancer patients could boost survival rates, research suggests.

Medics found that those with higher step counts had mortality rates up to a third lower than other patients.

Experts said the link between activity levels and survival was so strong that doctors could end up prescribing steps, instead of medication.

And they said that the trackers could give medics an insight into the health of cancer patients, and how they were responding to treatment.

While patients might assure doctors they were keeping active, wearable devices could provide the true picture, they said.

Speaking at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual conference, in Chicago, doctors said wearables were set to become a standard part of treatment in future, with 70 clinical trials now underway.

One study of cancer patients, involving the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the Royal Marsden Hospital, found that an extra 1,000 steps was linked to mortality rates one third lower.

Separate US research of patients with advanced disease also found that step count was closely linked to survival times. The study of 37 patients, who on average took 3,700 steps daily, found those carrying out an extra 1,000 steps a day twice as likely to be alive at the end of the six month study.