A randomized pilot study with daily walking during adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with breast and colorectal cancer

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flowchart of patient inclusion.

Table I. Patients’ demographics.

	Total sample (n = 77)		Control group (n = 38)		Intervention group (n = 39)		Breast group (n = 59)		Colorectal group (n = 18)
	(n)	%	(n)	%	(n)	%	(n)	%	(n)	%
Age at inclusion
20–29	1	1.3%	1	2.6%	0	0.0%	1	1.7%	0	0.0%
30–39	9	11.7%	3	7.9%	6	15.3%	9	15.3%	0	0.0%
40–49	20	26.0%	10	26.3%	10	25.6%	18	30.5%	2	11.1%
50–59	18	23.4%	10	26.3%	8	20.5%	17	28.8%	1	5.6%
60–69	18	23.4%	8	21.1%	10	25.6%	10	16.9%	8	44.4%
70–79	9	11.7%	5	13.2%	4	10.3%	3	5.1%	6	33.3%
Not specified	2	2.6%	1	2.6%	1	2.6%	1	1.7%	1	5.6%
Performance status (WHO)
WHO 0	67	87.0%	34	89.5%	33	84.6%	54	91.5%	13	72.2%
WHO 1	5	6.5%	1	2.6%	4	10.3%	2	3.4%	1	5.6%
Not specified	5	6.5%	3	7.9%	2	5.1%	3	5.1%	2	11.1%
Chemotherapy treatment
Group : 1 = Control 2 = Intervention							1	2	1	2
3 Doc + 3 FEC							18	18
3 Doc + 3 CEX							5	4
6 FEC							4	5
Not specified							2	3
8 Cap or other 5FU regim									5	3
8 CapeOX									4	4
Cetuximab/Irinotecan										1
Not specified										1
No. of cycles at inclusion
0	8	10.4%	4	10.5%	4	10.3%	1	1.7%	7	38.9%
1	24	31.2%	11	28.9%	13	33.3%	21	35.6%	3	16.7%
2	17	22.1%	10	26.3%	7	17.9%	14	23.7%	3	16.7%
3	8	10.4%	3	7.9%	5	12.8%	8	13.6%	0	0.0%
4	3	3.9%	1	2.6%	2	5.1%	1	1.7%	2	11.1%
5	3	3.9%	2	5.3%	1	2.6%	1	1.7%	2	11.1%
Not specified	14	18.2%	7	18.4%	7	17.9%	13	22.0%	1	5.6%
Cardiovascular comorbidity
Yes	16	20.8%	9	23.7%	7	17.9%	9	15.3%	7	38.9%
No	56	72.7%	27	71.1%	29	74.4%	46	78.0%	10	55.6%
Not specified	5	6.5%	2	5.3%	3	7.7%	4	6.8%	1	5.6%
Smoking
Never smoked	38	49.4%	16	42.1%	22	56.5%	30	50.8%	8	44.4%
Regularly smokes	7	9.1%	4	10.5%	3	7.7%	7	11.9%	0	0.0%
Quit smoking	21	27.3%	15	39.5%	6	15.4%	14	23.7%	7	38.9%
Not specified	11	14.3%	3	7.9%	8	20.5%	8	13.6%	3	16.7%
Physical activity until out of breath
> 2 hours/week
Yes	39	50.6%	18	47.4%	21	53.8%	31	52.5%	5	27.8%
No	32	41.6%	18	47.4%	14	35.9%	23	39.0%	3	16.7%
Not specified	6	7.8%	2	5.3%	4	10.3%	5	8.5%	10	55.6%
Lifestyle – daily walking
Almost never	11	14.3%	6	15.8%	5	12.8%	9	15.3%	2	11.1%
< 20 min/day	12	15.6%	7	18.4%	5	12.8%	10	16.9%	2	11.1%
20–40 min/day	22	28.6%	12	31.6%	10	25.6%	17	28.8%	5	27.8%
40–60 min/day	17	22.1%	7	18.4%	10	25.6%	13	22.0%	4	22.2%
1–1.5 hours/day	4	5.2%	1	2.6%	3	7.7%	3	5.1%	1	5.6%
> 1.5 hours/day	2	2.6%	0	0.0%	2	5.1%	1	1.7%	1	5.6%
Not specified	9	11.7%	5	13.2%	4	10.3%	6	10.2%	3	16.7%
Level of exercise – at gym
Almost never	47	61.0%	23	60.5%	24	61.5%	32	54.2%	15	83.3%
< 1 hour/week	5	6.5%	2	5.3%	5	7.7%	5	8.5%	0	0.0%
1 hour/week	5	6.5%	3	7.9%	5	5.1%	5	8.5%	0	0.0%
2–3 hours/week	13	16.9%	7	18.4%	11	15.4%	11	18.6%	2	11.1%
4–5 hours/week	1	1.3%	1	2.6%	1	0.0%	1	1.7%	0	0.0%
> 5 hours/week	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	0	0.0%
Not specified	6	7.8%	2	5.3%	4	10.3%	5	8.5%	1	5.6%

Cap, capecitabine; CapeOX, capecitabine, oxaliplatin; CEX, cyklofosfamid, epirubicin, capecitabine; Doc, docetaxel; FEC, fluorouracil, epirubicin, cyklofosfamid.

Table II. Global measures of physical activity. Participants exercise habits and changes over time. Sum variable, ANOVA with repeated measures.

			Baseline		Follow-up 10 w		Group before and after follow-up
PATIENT GROUP		n	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	p
Total sample	1 = Control	22	15.3	3.5	13.6	3.5	0.016
	2 = Interv.	24	16	3	16.3	2.9
Breast	1 = Control	18	15.2	3.7	13.8	3.7	0.052
	2 = Interv.	20	16.3	2.9	16.8	2.9
Colorectal	1 = Control	4	15.6	2.6	12.5	2.4	0.158
	2 = Interv.	4	14.3	3.2	14	1.4

The low number of participants is due to unanswered questions at baseline and after 10 weeks. Missing data has not been substituted. Only patients with complete data are included in the analysis.

Table III. Adherence to the exercise intervention by percentage of participating patients, mean step per day, mean step per week and the percentage of participants who achieved the step goal each week.

	Total sample (n = 35)					Breast (n = 27)			Colorectal (n = 8)
Week	Patient %	Step/day Mean	Step/week Mean	SD	Participants who achieved the step- goal/week %	Patient %	Step/day Mean	Step/week Mean	Patient %	Step/day Mean	Step/week Mean
1	100	9000	62 981	42 752	46	100	8580	60 082	100	10 390	72 764
2	100	8150	57 058	21 891	37	100	8550	59 843	100	6810	47 659
3	100	7280	50 984	21 256	20	100	7420	51 932	100	6830	47 785
4	100	8000	56 002	22 465	29	100	8440	59 067	100	6520	45 658
5	97	8260	57 842	20 624	26	96	8510	59 540	100	7470	52 325
6	94	8800	61 590	31 226	36	93	8630	60 407	100	9330	65 289
7	89	7940	55 594	23 819	29	85	8060	56 394	100	7610	53 293
8	83	7950	55 561	22 964	34	81	8430	59 006	88	6440	45 108
9	77	8850	61 966	19 657	44	78	9060	63 406	75	8130	56 926
10	74	8540	59 757	26 607	42	78	8880	62 189	63	7080	49 545
Mean	91%	8280	57 933		34%	91%	8460	59 187	93%	7660	53 635

Table IV. Effects of the exercise intervention on HRQoL and symptoms.

			Baseline		After 10 v		Group over time
		n	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	p
EORTC QLQ-C30, ANOVA with repeated measure, all participants
Global QoL	1 = Control	31	62.9	19.1	56.7	24.3	0.881
	2 = Interv	33	64.4	17.7	59.1	18.2
Function scales
Physical function	1	30	86.5	11.3	80.0	18.4	0.599
	2	33	87.8	12.8	83.6	17.5
Role functioning	1	31	59.7	35.4	54.3	36.3	0.566
	2	33	64.6	30.3	54.0	34.1
Emotional function	1	31	72.8	26.0	75.0	20.3	0.312
	2	33	69.4	22.5	76.3	20.1
Cognitive function	1	31	75.3	26.8	73.1	28.1	0.880
	2	33	77.8	26.2	76.3	22.4
Social function	1	31	68.3	28.0	63.4	30.9	0.857
	2	33	67.2	24.1	63.6	26.8
Symptom scales
Fatigue	1	31	41.2	21.7	51.6	30.8	0.898
	2	33	37.0	24.6	46.5	27.6
Nausea	1	31	14.0	31.1	12.4	18.2	0.244
	2	33	4.5	8.6	11.1	13.0
Pain	1	31	17.7	23.9	18.3	27.0	0.423
	2	33	19.7	26.2	15.2	22.2
Dyspnea	1	31	26.9	23.4	45.2	37.1	0.217
	2	33	25.3	26.4	33.3	28.9
Insomnia	1	31	29.0	29.5	35.5	36.4	0.604
	2	32	38.5	31.8	40.6	30.2
Loss of appetite	1	31	18.3	32.0	26.9	33.8	0.542
	2	33	15.2	25.1	19.2	25.0
Constipation	1	31	12.9	20.5	11.8	25.2	0.503
	2	33	9.1	17.2	11.1	18.0
Diarrhea	1	31	14.0	22.4	12.9	18.6	0.104
	2	32	12.5	23.6	22.9	24.6
Financial difficulties	1	30	23.3	30.5	20.0	27.1	0.414
	2	32	13.5	26.6	14.6	25.3
EORTC QLQ – BR23. ANOVA with repeated measure for breast cancer specific symptoms
Breast symptom	1	21	20.6	19.8	22.6	23.4	0.045
	2	25	20.8	21.1	10.7	12.2

The column “group over time” shows the significance of change when the groups are compared with each other.

Table V. Anthropometric and laboratory values, ANOVA with repeated measures.

			Baseline		After 10 v		Over time	Group over time
		n	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	p	p
Weight	1 = Control	33	72.8	12.6	74.1	13.0	0.001	0.528
	2 = Interv.	34	69.8	12.0	70.7	12.7
Body mass index	1	33	26.2	3.6	26.6	3.7	0.002	0.378
	2	34	24.7	3.7	25.0	3.9
Abdominal circumference	1	32	90.7	12.4	90.6	11.4	0.781	0.925
	2	34	86.9	12.9	86.8	11.7
Abdominal height	1	31	20.6	3.1	20.9	3.3	0.732	0.194
	2	34	19.8	3.5	19.4	3.2
Systolic b. pressure	1	33	131.8	17.7	126.2	14.6	0.007	0.621
	2	33	126.0	16.3	122.0	11.9
Diastolic b. pressure	1	33	77.6	10.1	75.1	13.8	0.027	0.694
	2	33	76.5	9.7	73.0	7.5
Pulse	1	33	73.3	11.3	71.1	8.8	0.145	0.836
	2	33	69.4	12.2	67.8	8.2
fS-Cholesterol	1	18	5.0	1.0	5.3	1.4	0.447	0.622
	2	25	5.2	1.7	5.2	1.8
fS-HDL	1	29	1.4	0.4	1.6	1.0	0.297	0.953
	2	34	1.5	0.4	1.6	1.0
fS-LDL	1	29	3.2	0.8	3.4	0.9	0.040	0.613
	2	34	3.3	1.1	3.4	1.3
fS-Triglycerides	1	29	1.4	0.6	1.6	0.9	0.012	0.982
	2	34	1.3	0.8	1.5	0.9
C-Peptide	1	29	1.1	0.5	1.5	1.8	0.090	0.561
	2	33	1.0	0.4	1.2	0.8

Anthropometric data and laboratory values at baseline and after 10 weeks. The column “over time” shows the significance of the change regardless of group, and the column “group over time” shows the significance of the change when the groups are compared with each other.