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Effect of high-intensity interval training on patient-reported outcomes and physical function in women with breast cancer receiving anthracycline-based chemotherapy

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of an 8-week HIIT intervention on patient-reported outcomes and physical function in breast cancer patients undergoing anthracycline-based chemotherapy.

Methods

Thirty breast cancer patients were recruited prior to initiating treatment and randomized into the HIIT group (n = 15) or control (CON) group (n = 15). The HIIT group attended HIIT sessions three days per week for eight weeks. The CON group was asked to maintain their current level of physical activity. Patient-reported outcomes were assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast Cancer (FACT-B), Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory with 20 questions (MFI-20), and the 15-item Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-15). Physical function was assessed using the timed up and go (TUG), 30-s sit-to-stand (30STS), Margaria-Kalamen stair climb test, and 6-min walk test (6MWT). Repeated measures ANCOVA and paired t-tests were performed to assess group differences.

Results

All patients completed the 8-week study with 82.3% adherence to the intervention among the HIIT group. Post-intervention, significant improvements were found for the Margaria-Kalamen stair climb test (− 3.39%; P = 0.013) and 6MWT (+ 11.6%; P = 0.008) in the HIIT group compared to baseline and CON group. No changes in patient-reported outcomes, TUG, and 30STS were observed following the 8-week study period in both groups (P  > 0.05).

Conclusions

HIIT may be an effective strategy to improve physical function and possibly maintain QOL in breast cancer patients undergoing the anthracycline-based chemotherapy.

Clinical trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02454777

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Clinical Investigations Support Office of the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center for their regulatory support of this investigation and the extraordinary generosity of our study participants.

Funding

This work was supported by grant UL1TR001855 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Population Sciences, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope (COH), Duarte, CA, 91010, USA

    Kyuwan Lee

  2. Division of Population Sciences, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, 375 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Mary K. Norris & Christina M. Dieli-Conwright

  3. Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA

    Ellice Wang

Authors
  1. Kyuwan Lee
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  2. Mary K. Norris
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  3. Ellice Wang
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  4. Christina M. Dieli-Conwright
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Contributions

Conceptualization (all authors); methodology (Kyuwan Lee and Christina Dieli-Conwright); writing original draft (all authors); review & editing (all authors); resources (Christina Dieli-Conwright), and supervision (Christina Dieli-Conwright). All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christina M. Dieli-Conwright.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

The protocol was approved by the University of Southern California Institutional Review Board (HS-1500227); ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02454777; date of registration: May 27th, 2015.

Consent to participate

The informed consent was approved by the University of Southern California Institutional Review Board (HS-1500227); ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02454777; date of registration: May 27th, 2015.

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Not applicable.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Kyuwan Lee and Mary K. Norris are co-first authors

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Lee, K., Norris, M.K., Wang, E. et al. Effect of high-intensity interval training on patient-reported outcomes and physical function in women with breast cancer receiving anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Support Care Cancer 29, 6863–6870 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06294-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06294-7

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