Moderate-Intensity Exercise To Reduce Radiation Therapy-Related Fatigue In Black Breast Cancer Patients: A Feasibility Trial

Background: Fatigue is an important side-effect of radiation therapy (RT) for treatment of early stage breast cancer. Evidence on the efficacy of physical activity (PA) interventions in reducing fatigue among Black cancer patients undergoing RT is lacking. In a randomized controlled trial we tested the efficacy of a structured PA intervention, coinciding with the start of RT, in reducing cancer-related fatigue among Black patients undergoing RT for breast cancer. Methods: We randomly assigned 30 Black, sedentary, RT-naive, non-pregnant patients diagnosed with stage 0-IIIA breast cancer who had completed adjuvant or neo-adjuvant chemotherapy and were scheduled for RT to the PA intervention (n = 15) and control groups (n = 15). PA intervention was an 8-week structured, moderate-intensity aerobic exercise regimen (75 minutes/week) using PEDLARS (portable stationary cycle ergometers) concurrent with RT. Fatigue was measured by using the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-Fatigue) survey, a 13-item scale whose score ranges from 0 to 52 with a higher score denoting lower fatigue. We used ANCOVA to compare fatigue levels between the groups at T8 weeks after adjusting for baseline (T0) fatigue levels. We also compared change in fatigue scores (T8 weeks - T0) using 2-sample t-tests. All tests were double-sided with alpha = 0.05. Results: 27 women completed baseline and follow-up assessments. After adjusting for baseline fatigue scores, intervention group participants reported lower fatigue at T8 weeks than the control group (42.53 vs. 37.12; P = 0.17). Intervention group participants improved their fatigue scores at T8 weeks compared to T0 (mean change +1.3) but the control group did not (mean change -1.91; P = 0.42). Conclusion: Although statistically not significant, moderate-intensity exercise regimen among Black breast cancer patients undergoing RT was associated with lower RT-associated fatigue. This trial demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a randomized clinical trial of a moderate-intensity exercise program among women initiating RT for breast cancer. Citation Format: Chiranjeev Dash, Mary Mills, Vivian Watkins, Pamela Randolph-Jackson, Claudine Isaacs, Kepher Makambi, Lucile L. Adams-Campbell. Moderate-intensity exercise to reduce radiation therapy-related fatigue in black breast cancer patients: A feasibility trial. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3467.