Compared with usual care, a moderate- to high-intensity exercise intervention had beneficial effects on chemotherapy completion rates, symptom burden, and return-to-work rates among women with breast cancer who were undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy, according to a study published online April 27 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
For the multicenter Physical Exercise During Adjuvant Chemotherapy Effectiveness Study (PACES), 230 women (mean age 51 years) with breast cancer who were undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy were randomized to participate in a high- to moderate-intensity exercise program supervised by physical therapists (n = 76), a low-intensity home-based program (n = 77), or the usual care group (n = 77).
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Dose adjustments in the chemotherapy regimen were less frequent in the moderate- to high-intensity exercise group (12%) than in the usual care or low-intensity groups (both 34%, P = .002). Patients in the exercise interventions were more likely to return to work by the 6-month follow up than those with usual care, wrote Ms. Hanna van Waart, a doctoral candidate at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, and colleagues (J. Clin. Oncol. 2015 Apr. 27 [doi:10.1200/JCO.2014.59.1081]).
“This not only has financial implications, but also carries meaning in terms of quality of life and a sense of return to normalcy,” they wrote.
At completion of chemotherapy, patients from both activity groups reported significantly better physical functioning, less nausea and vomiting, and less pain than did those in the usual care group.