The effect of the population rehabilitation in community on post-operative cancer-related fatigue and quality of life in elderly patients with esophageal cancer receiving chemotherapy / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effectiveness of population rehabilitation in community and home-based aerobic exercise in reducing cancer-related fatigue and promoting the quality of life in postoperative elderly patients with esophageal cancer.Methods The 68 post-operative patients with esophageal cancer receiving the first chemotherapy in our hospital were assigned to two group (n=34,each)study group received an intervention of population rehabilitation of community,and control group received only home based aerobic exercise.The effect of intervention was evaluated by the Piper fatigue scale(PIPER) and he World Health Organization quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) in the beginning of the next chemotherapy cycle.Results After 4 weeks intervention,the scores of PIPER and WHOQOL BREF were significantly lower in study group than in control group[(4.2±1.6) vs.(5.4±0.7),(45.3±10.0) vs.(49.9±10.7),t=-2.334,5.334,P=0.031,0.042)].The cancer related mild degree fatigue accounted for 23.5％ (8 cases) in study group which was significantly higher than in control group1case(2.9 ％,1 case) (x2 =11.865,P＜0.01).Conclusions The population rehabilitation in community is a safe and feasible intervention.It is superior to homebased aerobic exercise for alleviating the severity and extent of cancer-related fatigue in elderly patients.