Effects of trimodal prehabilitation on quality of life and negative emotions in patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer

Objective To assess the effectiveness of a four-week trimodal prehabilitation program in enhancing the quality of life, clinical symptoms, and negative emotions of stage IV triple-negative breast cancer patients who are undergoing first-line systemic therapy. Optimize comprehensive care management for advanced cancer patients by providing evidence-based guidance. Methods Ninety-seven patients with stage IV triple-negative breast cancer at Xuzhou Central Hospital were selected from January 2024 to June 2025, and categorized into an observation group (49 cases) and a control group (48 cases). The control group underwent standard anti-tumor treatment and routine care, whereas the observation group engaged in a 4-week trimodal prehabilitation intervention in conjunction with standard treatment. The quality of life of patients, along with cancer-related fatigue, pain, anxiety, and depression, was evaluated using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B), the Revised Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS-R), the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA), and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) prior to and following the intervention. Patients in two groups were followed up after the completion of treatment to record their progression-free survival (PFS). Results Following the intervention, the observation group had significantly higher scores on the FACT-B scale (112.16 ± 4.67) than the control group (P < 0.001). They experienced considerably less cancer-related fatigue (5.33 ± 0.72) than the control group (P < 0.001), but there was no significant difference in pain scores between the two groups (P > 0.05). The observation group demonstrated considerably reduced levels of anxiety (13.14 ± 4.14) and depression (10.65 ± 3.48) compared to the control group (P < 0.001). In this trial, we preliminarily observed a longer PFS in the observation group compared with the control group (298.00 vs 235.00, P = 0.0237), along with a favorable safety profile. Conclusion Among patients with stage IV triple-negative breast cancer receiving first-line systemic therapy, a 4-week trimodal prehabilitation intervention was associated with significantly improved quality of life, reduced cancer-related fatigue, anxiety, and depression. It is possible that the improvement in quality of life may translate into a survival benefit.