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. 2023 Nov 30;15(23):5678.
doi: 10.3390/cancers15235678.

Does the Argentine Tango Sustainably Improve Cancer-Associated Fatigue and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors?

Shiao Li Oei  1 , Anja Thronicke  1 , Jessica Groß  2 , Thomas Rieser  1   3 , Sarah Becker  2 , Patricia Grabowski  4   5 , Gerrit Grieb  6 , Harald Matthes  1   3   7 , Friedemann Schad  1   4
Affiliations

Does the Argentine Tango Sustainably Improve Cancer-Associated Fatigue and Quality of Life in Breast Cancer Survivors?

Shiao Li Oei et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Background: Chronic cancer-related fatigue is difficult to manage in breast cancer survivors. The tango trial showed that a six-week tango Argentino program was effective in reducing fatigue and improving quality of life, and here we investigated the sustainability of this tango program for breast cancer survivors.

Methods: Stage I-III breast cancer survivors with increased fatigue symptoms were analyzed. The fifty participants in the tango trial were compared with a control cohort (n = 108) who did not participate in the tango program. Using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Questionnaire C30 (EORTC-QLQ-C30) and the German version of the cancer fatigue scale (CFS-D) self-reported quality of life parameters were assessed and longitudinal changes, correlations, and association factors were calculated.

Results: Significant improvements in fatigue (p = 0.006), physical functioning (p = 0.01), and diarrhea (p = 0.04) persisted in the 50 Tango participants at 6 months, but not in the control cohort. Twelve months after joining the tango program, increased fatigue was associated with reduced sporting activities (p = 0.0005), but this was not the case for tango dancing.

Conclusions: The present results suggest that tango may be appropriate as a component of early supportive and follow-up care programs, to promote health-related quality of life and physical activity and also eventually to improve long-term clinical outcomes of breast cancer survivors.

Trial registration: Trial registration numbers DRKS00013335 on 27 November 2017 and DRKS00021601 on 21 August 2020 retrospectively registered.

Keywords: breast cancer; dance; fatigue; integrative oncology; physical activities; quality of life; supportive care; tango Argentino.

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Conflict of interest statement

JG reports grants from Roche, Siemens, mte, and Celgene (travel costs and honoraria for speaking) outside the submitted work. HM is a member of the board of directors of Weleda AG, a member of the Network Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Wissenschaftlichen Fachgesellschaften (AWMF e.V.) guideline committee for integrative oncology (Guideline for Complementary Medicine in the Treatment of Oncological Patients) and has an endowed professorship at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, which is financed by the Software AG Foundation outside the submitted work. FS reports grants from Helixor Heilmittel GmbH (travel costs and honoraria for speaking), grants from AstraZeneca (travel costs and honoraria for speaking), grants from Abnoba GmbH, and grants from Iscador AG, outside the submitted work. The other authors have declared that no competing interests exist. No payment was received for any other aspects of the submitted work. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. There are no other relationships/conditions/circumstances that present a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the study population. CFS-D: Cancer fatigue scale, German version; QoL: Quality of life.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Time course of the EORTC QLQ-C30 sores for tango and control groups. The physical functioning, symptoms fatigue, diarrhea, and insomnia scores for the tango cohort (red, n = 50) pre, post tango and 6 and 12 months later and for the control cohort (blue, n = 108) are shown. Significant changes related to the scores prior intervention are indicated. *: p-value < 0.05.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Fatigue and physical activity circle model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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