Sandra Hayes’s research study looks at ovarian cancer in Australia, and whether exercise during chemotherapy is an effective and cost-effective way to improve health outcomes
Women receiving chemotherapy for newly diagnosed ovarian cancer may accrue benefits from exercise. However, randomised trials evaluating exercise during cancer care are needed to provide the level 1 evidence necessary for a change in clinical practice.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of an exercise intervention during first-line chemotherapy for ovarian cancer in a randomised, controlled trial, with outcomes of interest including physical well-being, chemotherapy-related adverse events and adherence, physical function, QoL, health resource use, and progression-free and overall survival.
Randomised, controlled trial evaluating the effect of an exercise intervention during chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. Participating women were assessed before and at 6 and 12 months post-randomisation. Exercise-related adverse events (EAEs) were classified according to severity, causality, and impact. Prescribed and completed exercise frequency, and session duration, intensity, and mode were recorded by Exercise Physiologists during weekly intervention sessions (intervention duration based on length of chemotherapy regimen; ~18 weeks).
The ECHO exercise intervention is proving safe, with no grade 3 or higher exercise-related adverse events, and no exercise-related adverse event requiring >1 week absence from exercise.
Approximately 10% of women have withdrawn from the intervention. For those who complete the intervention, the mean intervention duration is 19±6 weeks, and on average, 81% of scheduled telephone sessions and completed a median of 435 MET-minutes per week, including a median of two resistance training sessions (97% and 100% of volume and resistance targets, respectively).
In 2020, researchers secured a Queensland Cancer Council Accelerating Collaborative Research grant, which now allows them to recruit and follow a total of 500 women. Consequently, this makes the ECHO trial, one of only four trials worldwide adequately powered to evaluate the effect of exercise on progression-free survival.
