Multimodal and combined multimodal-aerobic therapy in breast cancer survivors with cancer-related fatigue.

Abstract

e20717 Background: Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) and insomnia are major issues in breast cancer survivors (BC). While aerobic training (AT) is the standard therapy in BC with CRF, the effect-size is only minor to moderate. Other evidence-based treatments are cognitive behavioral therapy e.g. sleep education/restriction (SE) or psycho-education (PE) and mindfulness-based therapies. We investigated a 10-week multimodal program (MT) consisting of SE, PE, eurythmy and painting therapy separately or in combination with AT (CT) and compared MT and CT each with AT. Methods: In a comprehensive cohort design study BC with chronic CRF (6-36 months after adjuvant treatment, Fatigue Numerical Scale ≥ 4) were evenly randomized or allocated by patient preference. Primary endpoint was a composite outcome of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Cancer Fatigue Scale (CFS-D) after 10 weeks (T1); a second endpoint included a six months later (T2) follow-up. We tested confirmatively for non-inferiority of MT vs. ...