EXERCISE REHABILITATION FOR THE OLDER CANCER PATIENT

本子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的众多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能已经从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是中心的，不一定是研究者的机构。当老年结肠癌患者接受化疗时，他们往往会感到非常疲倦，变得虚弱。自我报告的高度疲劳与功能表现和生活质量的下降有关。功能丧失最终会导致身体、心理和情绪上的痛苦，对患者及其家属可能造成毁灭性的经济和社会后果。患者能否从这种损失中完全恢复尚不清楚。我们正在研究运动如何帮助老年结肠癌患者在化疗过程中减轻疲劳和肌肉无力。举重可以增强50岁左右的癌症患者的胳膊和腿的力量，但锻炼对老年癌症患者保护身体功能和减轻疲劳的作用尚不清楚。40名年龄在65岁或以上的被诊断患有结肠癌的男性和女性将从丹佛地区的肿瘤学实践中招募。参与者将被筛选为安全的运动，然后随机分配到运动组或不运动的对照组。干预将超过6个月，在第一个化疗周期之前开始。锻炼组的参与者将获得进行力量锻炼的个性化指导。参与者将被鼓励每周锻炼3次，在锻炼研究设施中使用家庭和监督锻炼的组合。在完成研究措施后，随机分配到非运动对照组的参与者将接受为期6个月的监督运动计划。所有参与者将在干预开始、3个月和6个月时完成功能表现测试和问卷调查，以评估疲劳和生活质量。我们主要感兴趣的是测量两组患者身体功能和自我报告疲劳的变化。我们还将测量血液中的一些激素水平，这可能有助于我们更好地了解运动和化疗是如何影响疲劳和身体功能的。这项研究由美国国家癌症研究所和国立卫生研究院资助。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. When older people with colon cancer undergo chemotherapy, they tend to feel very tired and to become weak. High levels of self-reported fatigue are associated with reductions in functional performance and quality of life. Functional losses ultimately result in physical, psychological and emotional distress with potentially devastating economic and social consequences for patients and their families. Whether patients can fully recover from such losses remains unclear. We are studying how exercise may help older people with colon cancer feel less fatigue and have less muscle weakness as they go through chemotherapy. Lifting weights strengthened the arms and legs of women and men who had cancer and were about 50 years old, but the effects of exercise to protect physical function and reduce fatigue in older persons with cancer are not known. Forty women and men aged 65 years or older who have been diagnosed with colon cancer will be recruited from oncology practices in the Denver area. The participants will be screened for safety to exercise, and then randomly assigned to an exercise group or a non-exercising control group. The intervention will be over 6 months, beginning just before the first cycle of chemotherapy. Participants in the exercise group will receive individualized instructions for performing strength-building exercises. The participants will be encouraged to exercise 3 times per week using a combination of home-based and supervised exercises in an exercise research facility. Participants randomized to the non-exercise control group will be offered a 6-month supervised exercise program after the completion of study measures. All participants will complete a functional performance test and questionnaires to assess fatigue and quality of life at the beginning of the intervention, at 3 months and 6 months. We are primarily interested in measuring changes in physical function and self-reported fatigue in the two groups. We will also measure some hormone levels in the blood that may help us to better understand how exercise and chemotherapy affects fatigue and physical function. This study is funded by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health.