How One Community Exercise Program for People Living With Cancer Impacted Health Care Utilization

In Brief Survival rates for patients with cancer have increased, meaning more patients are living with the effects of their disease and treatment. Initiatives to enhance the long-term quality of life are critically needed. Exercise is known to help with short-term outcomes, but less is known about long-term outcomes. This retrospective study based on administrative data included a total of 203 patients with cancer who participated in a 12-week supervised, community-based exercise program, called Stay Strong; it was offered as an adjunctive therapy during the first 5 years of their cancer journey. The main objectives were to investigate the number of hospitalizations, the length of hospital stays, and the number of physician service claims up to 2 years following the program, and to compare that data to a control group. Participants were matched using provincial administrative data based on sex, age (+ 5 years old), and admissions to the hospital (+ 2) in the year prior to the program. Over the 2-year follow-up period, patients with cancer who participated in Stay Strong had a significant reduction in hospital admissions, shorter length of hospital stays, and a reduced number of physician service claims compared with the control group. These findings suggest that there are potential benefits of participating in a community-based exercise program during a patient's cancer journey for both the patient and the health care system.