Longitudinal physical activity assessment in post-surgical gynecologic cancer patients.

Abstract

e21582 Background: Physical activity is a key determinant of health, and exercise can be effective for decreasing anxiety and depression and improving quality of life in cancer survivors. The primary aim of this study was to report the trajectory of physical activity over time for post-operative gynecologic cancer patients. The secondary aim was to identify correlates of total physical activity over time. Methods: The study population included patients who underwent surgery for endometrial (n = 80) or ovarian (n = 43) cancer and wore an accelerometer for a 3-day period at 1 week, 1 month and 4 months after surgery. Accelerometer data were captured during all waking hours and were transformed into categories of light, moderate and vigorous intensity physical activity. The outcome of interest was total minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) collected over the three day period at each time point, analyzed using a linear mixed effect model approach, assessing the correlates of age, body mass index (BMI), self-rated health, laparotomy vs. laparoscopic (endometrial only) and neoadjuvant chemotherapy yes/no (ovarian only). Results: Mean age was 58.8 ± 10.1 years with mean BMI of 35.5±10.3 kg/m2. Over each three-day period, patients performed 7 ± 12 minutes of total accumulated MVPA at 1 week, 20 ± 41 minutes of total MVPA at 1 month, and 25 ± 36 minutes at 4-months post-surgery (p = 0.01). Federal guidelines recommend approximately 70 minutes of moderate intensity activity over a three-day period to collect 150 minutes of moderate activity a week. Better self-rated health at baseline was associated with increased activity over time (p = 0.02). BMI, age, type of surgery or use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy did not predict physical activity in patients of either disease site. Conclusions: Physical activity increased over time for endometrial and ovarian cancer patients. Self-reported health at baseline was also positively associated with increased moderate-vigorous physical activity over time. There is insufficient evidence to show that BMI significantly contributes to changes in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity over time. Future research should address barriers to activity and novel interventions.