EXERCISE REHABILITATION FOR THE OLDER CANCER PATIENT

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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.