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Assessment of the cardiorespiratory fitness and the quality of life of patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy: a prospective study

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Abstract

Background

Diminished cardiorespiratory fitness is a well-known side effect of chemotherapy as well as a risk factor for potential cardiovascular diseases among cancer patients. This study aimed to assess the potential effects of systemic adjuvant (ACT) or neoadjuvant (NACT) chemotherapy on cardiorespiratory fitness and quality of life (QoL) among breast cancer (BC) patients.

Methods

Demographic data, cardiorespiratory fitness, health-related QoL domains were assessed with simple data form, six-minute walk test (6MWT), European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life module (EORTC-C30), and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy (FACT-B+), respectively. Time1 (T1, prior to chemotherapy), Time2 (T2; interim assessment), and Time3 (T3, final assessment) were set as assessment points.

Results

A total of 42 patients (32 ACT vs 10 ACT) completed all assessments. There were no significant differences of main effect of time and time*group interaction on total walked distance (TWD) after controlling for age and BMI (F(2,28) = 1.309, p = 0.286; F(2,28) = 1.444, p = 0.253). EORTC symptoms subscale was found to be correlated with EORTC and FACT-B+ physical function (PF) subscales (r = − 861, p < 0.001; r = − 0.877, p < 0.001) in T3. The EORTC PF subscale was found to be correlated with the TWD in the baseline (r = 0.411, p = 0.024).

Conclusions

This study showed that the effect of chemotherapy on diminished PF and remarkably increased symptom burden among BC patients. Yet, the type of chemotherapy had no effect on TWD regarding cardiorespiratory fitness. Monitoring potential functional decline regarding cardiorespiratory fitness can be performed via simple field tests such as 6MWT.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank patients who voluntarily participated in this study.

Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir Bakırçay University, Izmir, Turkey

    Murat Akyol

  2. Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Izmir Bakırçay University, Izmir, Turkey

    Alper Tuğral, Zeynep Arıbaş & Yeşim Bakar

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  1. Murat Akyol
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  2. Alper Tuğral
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alper Tuğral.

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Conflict of interest

Author A.T. declares that he has no conflict of interest. Author Z.A. declares that he has no conflict of interest. Author M.A. declares that he has no conflict of interest. Author Y.B. declares that he has no conflict of interest. Author A.T. declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was approved by Izmir Bakircay University Ethical Board of Clinical Studies with the 208/190/04032021. 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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Signed informed consent was taken for each participant.

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Akyol, M., Tuğral, A., Arıbaş, Z. et al. Assessment of the cardiorespiratory fitness and the quality of life of patients with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy: a prospective study. Breast Cancer 30, 617–626 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-023-01453-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-023-01453-6

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