Abstract 2517: Meaningful change in the ability to perform physical activities for patients with cachexia and cancer
Authors: Carrie Northcott, Abigail Newell, Soohyun Hwang, Josh Coulter, Lewis Kopenhafer, Mar Santamaria, Isik Karahanoglu, Martine C. Maculaitis, Joseph C. Cappelleri, Kathleen Beusterien, Maria Gonzalo, Erica Fortune, Claire Saxton, Elif Andac-Jones, Brett Hauber
Journal: Cancer Research (2025)

Abstract Digital health technologies (DHTs) can quantify changes in physical activity in cachexia clinical studies. But what is a meaningful change? We estimated the meaningfulness to patients with cachexia and cancer of incremental changes in ability to perform physical activities of different intensity and time spent each day doing non-sedentary activity that can be measured with DHTs. An online survey was conducted with US adults with cachexia and cancer. Meaningfulness of 14 changes in ability to perform physical activities and 3 increases in daily time spent in non-sedentary activity were assessed on a 5-point rating scale (not at all meaningful to extremely meaningful). Subgroups (tumor type, cancer stage, ECOG performance status) were compared using chi-square (or Fisher’s exact) tests. Overall, 181 patients participated. All changes in physical activity intensity, and both a 14-min and a 30-min increase in time spent in non-sedentary activity/day, were at least moderately meaningful to most patients, regardless of tumor type, cancer stage, or ECOG performance status (Table). Some meaningfulness ratings differed significantly by tumor type (both walking pace and distance were less meaningful in NSCLC and sitting to standing was less meaningful in pancreatic) and performance status (walking pace was less meaningful in patients with ECOG 3-4). Majorities of patients, except for those with colorectal, rated a 4-min increase/day in non-sedentary activity as at least moderately meaningful. Patients with cancer and cachexia perceived even small changes in physical activities and time spent in non-sedentary activity as being at least moderately meaningful, suggesting that DHTs that measure changes in movement duration can be used to capture important patient-centric endpoints in clinical studies. Table Change in Ability to do Physicial Activities Proportion of Patients Rating Each Change as at Least Moderately Meaningful All Patients Tumor Type Cancer Stage Performance Status NSCLC Breast Colorectal Pancreatic Other Stage I-III Stage IV Higher Lower N=181 N=20 N=69 N=30 N=15 N=47 N=123 N=52 N=147 N=34 Cannot go walking outside to Able to walk a short distance 93.9% 95.0% 94.2% 93.3% 93.3% 93.6% 92.7% 98.1% 93.9% 94.1% Able to walk a short distance to Able to walk a long distance 90.6% 65.0%* 91.3%* 96.7%* 100.0%* 93.6%* 91.9% 88.5% 91.8% 85.3% Cannot walk, even at a slow pace to Able to walk at a slow pace 94.5% 100.0% 95.7% 93.3% 93.3% 91.5% 93.5% 98.1% 95.9% 88.2% Able to walk at a slow pace to Able to walk at an average walking pace 90.6% 70.0%* 92.8%* 93.3%* 100.0%* 91.5%* 89.4% 94.2% 93.2%* 79.4%* Able to walk at an average walking pace to Able to walk at a fast pace 79.6% 70.0% 78.3% 93.3% 93.3% 72.3% 79.7% 78.8% 80.3% 76.5% Cannot be up and about to Able to be up and about for &amp;lt;1 hour a day 93.9% 100.0% 92.8% 93.3% 100.0% 91.5% 94.3% 94.2% 94.6% 91.2% Able to be up and about for &amp;lt;1 hour a day to Able to be up and about 3 hours a day 96.1% 100.0% 94.2% 90.0% 100.0% 100.0% 95.1% 100.0% 95.9% 97.1% Able to be up and about 3 hours a day to Able to be up and about 6 hours a day 92.3% 80.0% 89.9% 93.3% 100.0% 97.9% 90.2% 98.1% 92.5% 91.2% Cannot move from sitting to standing to Able to move from sitting to standing with effort 89.0% 95.0%* 91.3%* 100.0%* 60.0%* 85.1%* 88.6% 92.3% 89.8% 85.3% Able to move from sitting to standing with effort to Move from sitting to standing easily 95.0% 100.0% 94.2% 100.0% 100.0% 89.4% 95.1% 96.2% 95.9% 91.2% Cannot do any activities, even while sitting to Able to do activities while sitting 95.0% 95.0% 92.8% 100.0% 100.0% 93.6% 94.3% 98.1% 95.2% 94.1% Able to do activities while sitting to Able to do light activities 96.1% 100.0% 94.2% 93.3% 100.0% 97.9% 97.6% 94.2% 97.3% 91.2% Able to do light activities to Able to do moderate activities 91.2% 95.0% 87.0% 93.3% 93.3% 93.6% 91.1% 92.3% 92.5% 85.3% Able to do moderate activities to Able to do vigorous activities 75.7% 60.0% 75.4% 80.0% 86.7% 76.6% 78.9% 67.3% 78.2% 64.7% Able to do non-sedentary activities for an additional 4 minutes per day 65.2% 65.0%* 75.0%* 48.1%* 86.7%* 60.9%* 70.0% 62.7% 66.4% 69.7% Able to do non-sedentary activities for an additional 14 minutes per day 76.2% 80.0% 77.9% 66.7% 93.3% 80.4% 79.2% 76.5% 79.0% 75.8% Able to do non-sedentary activities for an additional 30 minutes per day 85.6% 90.0% 89.7% 85.2% 100.0% 82.6% 88.3% 88.2% 88.8% 84.8% * indicates statistically significant differences (P&amp;lt;0.05) in proportion among subgroups Citation Format: Carrie Northcott, Abigail Newell, Soohyun Hwang, Josh Coulter, Lewis Kopenhafer, Mar Santamaria, Isik Karahanoglu, Martine C. Maculaitis, Joseph C. Cappelleri, Kathleen Beusterien, Maria Gonzalo, Erica Fortune, Claire Saxton, Elif Andac-Jones, Brett Hauber. Meaningful change in the ability to perform physical activities for patients with cachexia and cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2025; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2025 Apr 25-30; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2025;85(8_Suppl_1):Abstract nr 2517.