An exercise intervention for advanced cancer patients experiencing fatigue: a pilot study

Fatigue is reported by advanced cancer patients to be their most prevalent and distressing symptom. Despite this, few interventions have been develope d and tested to manage this debilitating symptom. This paper describes a pi lot study undertaken to test the effects of a 28-day exercise intervention on levels of fatigue in advanced cancer patients. All participants were abl e to increase their activity levels with no increase in reported fatigue. F urthermore, a trend was noted in all patients toward increased quality of l ife scores and decreased anxiety scores. All participants described a sense of satisfaction in attaining increased activity levels. These preliminary pilot results suggest that patients who initially report the highest levels of fatigue may achieve the largest decrease in fatigue scores. These findi ngs provide support for the suitability of this intervention for the pallia tive care population and justify the importance of further hypothesis testi ng.