Relationship of Exercise to Quality of Life in Cancer Patients Beginning Chemotherapy

• Published in: Journal of pain and symptom management Vol. 41; no. 5; pp. 859 - 869
• Main Authors: Faul, Leigh Anne, Jim, Heather S., Minton, Susan, Fishman, Mayer, Tanvetyanon, Tawee, Jacobsen, Paul B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.05.2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: activity level; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Anesthesia & Perioperative Care; Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use; anxiety; Anxiety-Depression; Biological and medical sciences; Cancer; Chemotherapy; Combined Modality Therapy - statistics & numerical data; Depression; Exercise; Exercise Therapy - statistics & numerical data; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mood disorders; Neoplasms - epidemiology; Neoplasms - therapy; oncology; Pain Medicine; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Prevalence; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Quality of Life; Side effects; Statistics as Topic; Treatment Outcome; United States - epidemiology; United States; United States > US; activity level; anxiety; exercise; depression; quality of life; oncology; Cancer; Mood disorder; Physical exercise; Human; Affect affectivity; Depression; Malignant tumor; Biological activity; Quality of life; Chemotherapy; Treatment; Cancerology; Anxiety
• ISSN: 0885-3924; 1873-6513; 1873-6513
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2010.07.019

Cancer diagnosis and treatment, particularly chemotherapy, has well-established adverse effects on individuals. Exercise has been found to confer benefits to patients, although the current evidence base is limited primarily to patients assessed during or after treatment. Although exercise has been a target of intervention efforts, its relationship to quality of life in patients about to begin chemotherapy has not fully been examined. To examine the relationship of pre-treatment exercise rates to patient’s quality of life. One hundred ninety-two adults diagnosed with Stages I–IV cancer and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status ≤2, provided data on exercise, distress (anxiety and depression), and health-related quality of life prior to their initial chemotherapy infusion. As predicted, higher rates of exercise activity were associated with lower levels of anxiety and depression, and better overall mental and physical quality of life. These relationships were independent of demographic variables (i.e., body mass index and age) also associated with quality of life in the present analyses. These findings further highlight the importance of assessing exercise before the start of chemotherapy as part of broader efforts to link patients to appropriate interventions aimed at enhancing quality of life. Findings also raise the possibility that assessing exercise rates could be useful in matching patients to the type of intervention most likely to benefit them. Future research should use prospective longitudinal designs to further explore this association.