Abstract P5-11-02: Impact of pre-operative exercise and mind-body interventions on patient-reported outcomes in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer
Authors: Ligibel JA , Giobbie-Hurder A , Dillion D , Shockro L , Campbell N , Rhei E , Troyan S , Dominici L , Golshan M , Chagpar A , Yung R , Freedman R , Tolaney S , Winer E , Frank E , McTiernan A , Irwin M 
Published: March 2017

Background: Breast cancer diagnosis has a number of adverse psychological effects. The Pre-Operative Health and Body (PreHAB) Study tested the impact of exercise and mind-body interventions upon on mood, quality of life, and patient-reported outcomes in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer.

Methods: Women with newly diagnosed Stage I-III breast cancer were enrolled through Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Yale University breast cancer clinics prior to surgery. Participants were randomized 1:1 to an aerobic and strength-training exercise intervention, comprised of twice-weekly meetings with an exercise trainer and home based aerobic exercise, or to a self-directed mind-body relaxation intervention, comprised of a book and CD focused on relaxation and visualization. Participants engaged in the interventions between enrollment and surgery. The EORTC QLQ C-30, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Perceived Stress Scale were collected at enrollment and prior to surgery.

Results: 49 women were randomized (27 exercise and 22 control). Mean time between enrollment and surgery was 4.2 weeks. At baseline, patients reported moderate levels of anxiety, stress, insomnia, and lack of appetite, as well as diminished emotional and cognitive functioning (Table). Exercise participants significantly increased minutes of weekly exercise vs. mind-body participants (increase of 203 vs. 23 min/wk, p&lt;0.0001). Mind body participants engaged in the intervention on average 69% of days during the intervention period. Pre-post changes demonstrated that participation in the mind-body intervention led to improvements in emotional and cognitive functioning and a reduction in anxiety and stress, and participation in the exercise intervention led to improvements in global quality of life, insomnia, appetite, and stress (Table). Women in the mind-body group experienced a significantly greater improvement in cognitive functioning as compared to women in the exercise group.

Conclusions: Women with newly diagnosed breast cancer reported a number of physical and psychological symptoms in the pre-operative period. Exercise and mind-body interventions demonstrated promising benefits in improving functioning and reducing symptoms. More work is needed to develop pre-operative programs to help reduce the distress imparted by a cancer diagnosis in the critical time between diagnosis and surgery.

Table*

 Exercise Mind Body Between Groups BaselineChangep valueBaselineChangep valuep valueEmotional Functioning68.6 (23.3)4.7 (18.3)0.2966.3 (24.2)10.0 (20.5)0.050.64Cognitive Functioning79.5 (24.6)-3.3 (24.1)0.6273.8 (22.1)11.7 (15.4)0.0020.03QOL74.0 (15.3)9.7 (15.9)0.00569.0 (21.1)7.5 (18.5)0.110.78Insomnia35.9 (32.6)-16.7 (32.6)0.0334.9 (35.7)-8.3 (21.3)0.060.52Lack of Appetite17.9 (27.0)-13.3 (27.2)0.0311.1 (19.2)-5.0 (22.4)0.530.29Anxiety8.3 (3.4)-0.6 (2.9)0.259.2 (2.5)-1.6 (2.3)0.0060.35Stress14.7 (7.2)-2.2 (4.9)0.0618.4 (5.5)-3.1 (6.8)0.060.77

*Results reported as means (SD). Positive scores on functional and QOL measures indicate improvements; negative scores on symptom measures indicate a decrease in symptoms.

Citation Format: Ligibel JA, Giobbie-Hurder A, Dillion D, Shockro L, Campbell N, Rhei E, Troyan S, Dominici L, Golshan M, Chagpar A, Yung R, Freedman R, Tolaney S, Winer E, Frank E, McTiernan A, Irwin M. Impact of pre-operative exercise and mind-body interventions on patient-reported outcomes in women with newly diagnosed breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-11-02.