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Bright light therapy improves cancer-related fatigue in cancer survivors: a randomized controlled trial

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Abstract

Purpose

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a common and distressing symptom that can persist after cancer treatment has concluded. Bright light therapy has shown preliminary efficacy in reducing CRF, but its impact on other psychosocial factors is unclear. The purpose was to examine the impact of a 1-month light therapy intervention on fatigue, mood, and quality of life in cancer survivors with fatigue.

Methods

This 4-week blinded randomized controlled trial recruited cancer survivors who met diagnostic criteria for CRF. Participants were randomly assigned to receive a light therapy device that produced either bright white light (BWL; intervention) or dim red light (DRL; active control). Participants were instructed to use the device daily for 30 min upon waking for 28 days. The primary outcome, fatigue, was assessed weekly. Secondary outcomes assessed pre- and post-intervention included mood, depressive symptoms, and quality of life.

Results

A total of 81 participants were randomly assigned to receive BWL (n = 42) or DRL (n = 39). Analyses revealed a group-by-time interaction for fatigue (p = .034), wherein the BWL condition reported a 17% greater reduction in fatigue than those in the DRL condition (between group d = .30). There were also significant improvements over time for both groups on measures of mood, depressive symptoms, and quality of life (p’s < .01).

Conclusions

BWL was associated with greater improvements in fatigue and both groups displayed improvements on secondary psychosocial outcomes.

Implications for cancer survivors

These findings, along with previous reports of light therapy for CRF, support the use of this intervention to improve fatigue in cancer survivors.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge and thank each participant who dedicated their time to be involved in this study. J.A. Johnson would like to acknowledge the following funding agencies for graduate training support: Alberta-Innovates Health Solutions, the Alberta Cancer Foundation, the Killam Trust, and Lloyd and Florence Cooper Trust.

Funding

This work was supported by Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (Grant #: 2012-701425).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biobehavioral Health, College of Health and Human Development, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Jillian A. Johnson

  2. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada

    Sheila N. Garland

  3. Division of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada

    Sheila N. Garland

  4. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Linda E. Carlson & Tavis S. Campbell

  5. Department of Oncology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Linda E. Carlson, J. Steven A. Simpson & Tavis S. Campbell

  6. School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Université Laval, Laval, QC, Canada

    Josée Savard

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    J. Steven A. Simpson

  8. Departments of Psychiatry and Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA

    Sonia Ancoli-Israel

Authors
  1. Jillian A. Johnson
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  2. Sheila N. Garland
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  3. Linda E. Carlson
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  4. Josée Savard
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  7. Tavis S. Campbell
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tavis S. Campbell.

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Conflict of interest

T.S. Campbell discloses speaker’s honoraria from Abbvie, Janseen, Lifescan, NovoNorodisk and research funding from Abbvie. S. Ancoli-Israel consults for Merck, Pfizer, Ferring, and Janssen.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Johnson, J.A., Garland, S.N., Carlson, L.E. et al. Bright light therapy improves cancer-related fatigue in cancer survivors: a randomized controlled trial. J Cancer Surviv 12, 206–215 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-017-0659-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-017-0659-3

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