Effectiveness of home-based exercise in breast cancer survivors: a randomized clinical trial

Vahid Farajivafa; Nasim Khosravi; Nilofar Rezaee; Maryam Koosha; Shahpar Haghighat

doi:10.1186/s13102-023-00710-7

Effectiveness of home-based exercise in breast cancer survivors: a randomized clinical trial

BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. 2023 Aug 7;15(1):96. doi: 10.1186/s13102-023-00710-7.

Authors

Vahid Farajivafa¹, Nasim Khosravi¹, Nilofar Rezaee², Maryam Koosha³, Shahpar Haghighat⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
² Department of Exercise Physiology, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
³ Department of Social Welfare, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran.
⁴ Department of Cancer Quality of Life, Breast Cancer Research Center, Motamed Cancer Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran. Haghighat@acecr.ac.ir.

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer patients are recommended to engage in regular exercise. In developing countries, where there is a lack of facilities to offer specialized, supervised exercise for this population, regularly exercising might be a challenge. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a home-based intervention in this population.

Methods: Breast cancer survivors were randomly assigned to either the home-based exercise program or the usual care group. Exercise intervention included walking, balance, and stretch exercises, along with weekly follow-up telephone calls. Quality of life (QOL) was evaluated using EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ-BR23 questionnaires and the predicted VO₂ peak was measured using the Ebbeling submaximal treadmill test.

Results: Eighty-nine patients were enrolled in the study. Reported minutes of exercise gradually increased from 40.7 min per week in week 1 to 116.9 min per week in week 12. This intervention improved global QOL (P = 0.001), social functioning (P = 0.04), and the predicted VO₂ peak (P = 0.01).

Conclusion: This home-based exercise regime effectively increased quality of life and physical activity levels.

Trial registry: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials identifier: IRCT20140810018746N1, prospectively registered 08/01/2018, https://en.irct.ir/trial/27959 .

Keywords: Breast cancer; Home-based exercise; Quality of life.