Disclosures: Pamela A. Hansen, MD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: Exercise is associated with improvement in physical function, decreased symptom burden, and greater survivorship among cancer survivors. This study assessed our Hospital’s clinical, supervised exercise program.

Design: A retrospective analysis was conducted among data collected between 2016-2019 from our program. Setting : Hospital based outpatient program. Participants : A total of 849 patients with invasive cancer completed an initial assessment and participated in the program. The most common cancer types treated were breast, prostate, multiple myeloma, lymphoma, leukemia, and colorectal. The majority of patients were female (62%), with average age of 61+/-14 years, and BMI of 28.6+/-6.7 kg/m2.

Interventions: Patients were enrolled in the program at any time point across the cancer care continuum. Participants completed a physical assessment by a team of physiatrists and exercise physiologists. An individualized whole-body aerobic and resistance exercise program was then developed and delivered in-person or home-based via telemedicine platform (per patient preference).

Main Outcome Measures: Descriptive statistics were calculated for clinical and demographic factors. Among patients who completed an assessment after participating in the program, paired sample t-tests were calculated to detect differences pre- and post- participation.

Results: A total of 254 patients completed a follow-up assessment, and average time between assessments was seven months. Significant, favorable changes were observed for (variables presented as change from initial assessment): physical function (30-second chair stand: p < 0.001), fitness (peak aerobic capacity: p < 0.001, METS: p < 0.001), muscular endurance (10RM: leg press, chest press, lateral pull down p < 0.001), self reported fatigue (FACIT fatigue score: p < 0.001) and quality of life (FACT G7 score: p < 0.001). Significant changes were not observed in body weight, anthropometrics, or hand grip strength. Conclusions: Our exercise program significantly improves physical function, fitness, muscular endurance, self-reported fatigue, and quality of life in various cancer types across all stages, and may serve as a model exercise oncology program for other cancer centers nationwide to improve outcomes associated with cancer survival.

Level of Evidence: Level V

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/preliminary-efficacy-of-a-hospital-based-exercise-oncology-program/