Effects of a 6-Week Supervised Multimodal Exercise Program on Cancer-Related Fatigue, Quality of Life and Physical...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Exercise Physiology

Background:

• Cancer treatment frequently leads to reduced quality of life, fatigue, and functional impairments.
• While therapeutic exercise is beneficial, evidence for brief, supervised, moderate-to-vigorous intensity programs is limited but clinically relevant.
• This study investigated a six-week multimodal Therapeutic Exercise Program (TEP) for cancer patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a brief, supervised, multimodal Therapeutic Exercise Program (TEP).
• To assess the impact of TEP on quality of life, fatigue, functional capacity, and muscle strength in cancer patients.
• To determine the clinical relevance and feasibility of TEP in oncologic care.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial (NCT05816187) involving 110 cancer patients (stages I-III).
• Intervention group received supervised TEP (cardiorespiratory, strength, stretching) three times weekly for six weeks, with intensity monitored via RPE.
• Outcomes measured using EORTC QLQ-C30 (QoL), FACIT-F (fatigue), 6MWT (functional capacity), 30s-STST, and handgrip (muscle strength).
• Statistical analyses included ANCOVA, responder analyses (MCID), and effect sizes (ηp²).

Main Results:

• The TEP group demonstrated significant improvements in fatigue (FACIT-F: +4.53, p < 0.001), global QoL (+9.22, p = 0.006), and functional capacity (+24.16 m in 6MWT, p = 0.006).
• Clinically meaningful increases in muscle strength were observed (30s-STST: +2.71 reps; handgrip: +3.32 kg, p < 0.001).
• A higher proportion of TEP participants were responders for fatigue (63.3% vs 13.3% in control, NNT = 2.00), with moderate correlations between functional gains and fatigue/QoL improvements.

Conclusions:

• A brief, supervised, multimodal TEP of moderate-to-vigorous intensity is effective and safe for improving fatigue, QoL, and functional capacity in cancer patients.
• The program's feasibility suggests broad applicability within multidisciplinary oncologic care settings.
• TEP represents a clinically relevant intervention for mitigating treatment-related side effects and enhancing patient recovery.