Comparing Quality-of-life, Roles, And BMI In Two Clinical Populations Participating In Supervised Exercise

Abstract

We have previously demonstrated that exercising patients with type 2 diabetes have higher quality-of-life (QOL) and lower BMI versus non-exercising patients. The clinical literature also indicates that exercise enhances health and well-being of cancer patients. Exercise has been shown to decrease cancer-related fatigue, nausea, and pain. Patients who exercise generally experience higher health-related QOL. PURPOSE: To examine differences in QOL, roles, and demographics in two clinical populations (i.e. cancer, type 2 diabetes) engaged in supervised exercise. METHODS: We recruited exercising cancer patients from a clinical facility in Morgantown, West Virginia. To evaluate QOL and roles, we used the following assessments: (1) Satisfaction with Life Scale (SLS) and; (2) Role Checklist (RC). An independent t-test was used to determine demographic and response differences between supervised exercising cancer patients in this study and supervised exercising type 2 diabetes patients from our previous study. The Pearson product moment correlation was used to examine relationships between demographic and survey data from both clinical populations. RESULTS: There were no demographic differences between cancer patients (n=9; mean age = 62y ± 8) and type 2 diabetes patients (n=12; mean age = 59y ± 12). Cancer patients were more satisfied with life (p=0.04), had obtained more important things in life (p=0.03), and were more likely to not change anything about their lives (p=0.02) versus patients with diabetes. Cancer patients, who reported less fatigue, were able to complete more of their daily activities (r= -0.78, p=0.01), got more of what they wanted out of life (r= -0.69, p=0.04), and participated in more hobbies (r= -0.71, p=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: This study determined that QOL was higher in the cancer exercise group versus the diabetes exercise group. This may have been due to the likelihood that the cancer patients had more time to commit to an exercise regimen, and had more personal support, which may have contributed to higher exercise compliance levels. Future research should: (1) evaluate the extent to which clinical populations differ in terms of exercise compliance, and; (2) identify which common motivational factors may improve exercise and activity compliance across a spectrum of clinical populations.