Effects Of An Exercise Program On Physical Condition In Cancer Patients In A Community Framework

Physical exercise has shown to reduce some important cancer treatment side effects and improve cancer patients’ quality of live. Based on this evidence, the Exercise Oncology Unit (EOU) of the Spanish Cancer Association in Madrid was created to support integration of exercise programming into the usual care of patients with cancer. PURPOSE: to report the feasibility and effectiveness of 8-weeks clinical exercise program for improving physical condition in cancer patients in a community framework. METHODS: The study was an uncontrolled trial using a pre-post design with assessment at baseline and post-intervention (8 weeks). It was conducted at the EOU of the Spanish Cancer Association in Madrid from September 2020 to September 2023. All eligible participants provided written informed consent and the study was conducted following the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Changes from baseline to post-intervention were analyzed using a paired t-test. RESULTS: A total of 300 cancer patients completed the program and post-intervention fitness assessment. Participants had a mean age of 51.80 ± 10.03, 264 were women and 36 were men. In terms of medical data 57.7% had breast cancer, 8.3% had lung cancer, 6% had ovary cancer, 4.3% had colorectal cancer and 23.7% had other type of cancer like prostate, lymphoma, or pancreas. 49.6% were on active treatment, 15.7% had metastatic cancer and 34.7% had finished cancer treatment in the last two years. Moreover, 78% of cancer patients had surgery.In terms of physical condition, exercise significantly improved chest strength by 10.38 kg (p < .001),leg strength by 28.10 kg (p < .001), lower body functionality by 5.27 squats (p < .001), lean body mass by 0.61 kg (p < .001),skeletal muscle mass by 0.39 kg (p < .001), percentage of body fat mass by -0.51% (p = .016),waist hip ratio by –0.006 (p = .001), skeletal muscle index by 0.07 (p < .001), and phase angle by 0.06φ (p = .005). CONCLUSIONS: An 8-week, supervised, multi-component exercise program involving moderate to vigorous intensity was found to be effective on physical condition of for cancer.