Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2024 Sep 19:12:1451101.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1451101. eCollection 2024.

Improving physical and mental health in women with breast cancer undergoing anthracycline-based chemotherapy through wearable device-based aerobic exercise: a randomized controlled trial

Hongmei Li  1   2 , Die Sang  3 , Lijing Gong  2 , Boliang Wang  4 , Yong Wang  5 , Xiao Jia  2 , Jingjing Yu  2 , Zhenxing Kong  2 , Haiyun Liu  2 , Yimin Zhang  2
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Improving physical and mental health in women with breast cancer undergoing anthracycline-based chemotherapy through wearable device-based aerobic exercise: a randomized controlled trial

Hongmei Li et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Purpose: Aimed to assess the impact of wearable device-based aerobic exercise on the physical and mental well-being of women with breast cancer (BC) undergoing chemotherapy.

Methods: Forty adult women with BC who underwent anthracycline-based chemotherapy were randomly allocated to the exercise group (n = 21) or the control group (n = 19). Both groups received standard health education and oncology care. In addition, the exercise group wore wearable devices to engage in moderate to high-intensity (50-90% HRmax) aerobic exercise during chemotherapy, while the control group did not carry out exercise intervention. Health-related physical fitness level, physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE), anxiety and depression scores, sleep quality, cancer-related fatigue, and overall quality of life (QoL), were assessed both before (prior to the first chemotherapy session) and after (prior to the fifth chemotherapy session) the exercise intervention. Exercise-related adverse events, exercise compliance, number and severity of gastrointestinal reactions and myelosuppression occurred were recorded during the exercise intervention.

Results: After the intervention, compared to the control group, the exercise group (1) had significantly higher relative VO2peak (p = 0.003) and handgrip strength (p < 0.001); (2) had significantly higher PAEE (p < 0.001); (3) had a significantly lower scores in anxiety (p = 0.007), depression (p = 0.028), sleep quality in domains of subjective sleep quality (p = 0.010), sleep disturbances (p = 0.004), daytime dysfunction (p = 0.007), cancer-related fatigue in domains of physical (p < 0.001) and affective (p < 0.001); and (4) had a significantly lower scores in QoL in domains of physical well-being (p < 0.001) and emotional well-being (p = 0.019), while a significantly higher scores in functional well-being (p < 0.001). Patients in the exercise group experienced less severe gastrointestinal reactions (p = 0.028) and myelosuppressive symptoms (p < 0.001) than that in the control group. Patients in the exercise group had no serious exercise-related adverse events, with a mean exercise adherence of 81.8%.

Conclusion: Wearable device-based aerobic exercise during chemotherapy can be an effective adjunctive therapy to improve physical and mental health in BC patients.

Clinical trial registration: https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=200247, Identifier: ChiCTR2300073667.

Keywords: aerobic exercise; breast cancer; mental health; physical fitness; wearable device.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Exercise intervention protocol and times of outcome measurements. EGSM, electronic grip strength meter; CPET, cardiopulmonary exercise test; QS, questionnaire; ANT, anthracycline.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Flow of participants in the study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bray F, Laversanne M, Sung H, Ferlay J, Siegel RL, Soerjomataram I, et al. . Global cancer statistics 2022: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. (2024) 74:229–63. doi: 10.3322/caac.21834, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cao W, Chen HD, Yu YW, Li N, Chen WQ. Changing profiles of cancer burden worldwide and in China: a secondary analysis of the global cancer statistics 2020. Chin Med J. (2021) 134:783–91. doi: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000001474, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jacquinot Q, Meneveau N, Chatot M, Bonnetain F, Degano B, Bouhaddi M, et al. . A phase 2 randomized trial to evaluate the impact of a supervised exercise program on cardiotoxicity at 3 months in patients with HER2 overexpressing breast cancer undergoing adjuvant treatment by trastuzumab: design of the CARDAPAC study. BMC Cancer. (2017) 17:425. doi: 10.1186/s12885-017-3420-4, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Campbell KL, Winters-Stone KM, Wiskemann J, May AM, Schwartz AL, Courneya KS, et al. . Exercise guidelines for cancer survivors: consensus statement from international multidisciplinary roundtable. Med Sci Sports Exerc. (2019) 51:2375–90. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002116, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. van den Berg MM, Winkels RM, de Kruif JT, van Laarhoven HW, Visser M, de Vries JH, et al. . Weight change during chemotherapy in breast cancer patients: a meta-analysis. BMC Cancer. (2017) 17:259. doi: 10.1186/s12885-017-3242-4, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types