• 11/13/2004
  • Windsor PM, Nicol KF, Potter J.
  • Nature Clinical Practice Oncology (2004) 1, 10-11

Cancer patients experiencing treatment- and disease-related fatigue are commonly advised to rest and relax, although inactivity may actually be detrimental. To address the lack of randomized, controlled trials of exercise interventions, Windsor et al. have studied the effects of aerobic exercise in patients undergoing radiotherapy for localized prostate carcinoma.

Consecutive patients were randomized to an exercise group (n = 33) or a control group (n = 33) before receiving radical external beam radiation therapy. During the 4-week treatment period, patients in the exercise group were advised to carry out home-based, moderate-intensity, continuous walking for 30 minutes at least three times per week. Men in the control group were given ‘normal’ advice, i.e. to carry out activities as usual and to rest if fatigued. Outcome measures were fatigue (assessed using the Brief Fatigue Inventory [BFI]) and physical functioning (assessed by measuring the distance walked in a modified shuttle test).

Fatigue scores increased significantly in the control group after therapy (P = 0.013), whereas men in the exercise group showed no significant changes in fatigue over time. The shuttle test distance was reduced by 2.4% in the control group after therapy, but this was not statistically significant. Physical functioning was significantly improved, however, in the exercise group, whose mean shuttle test distance had increased by 13.2.% at the end of treatment (P = 0.0003).

The authors conclude that home-based, moderate-intensity walking improved physical functioning and that this may be necessary to minimize radiation-induced fatigue.