e-Poster Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2021

Adherence Rates and Tolerability to a Supervised Virtual Exercise Intervention for Patients with Cancer Cachexia (#355)

Kelcey A Bland 1 , Prue Cormie 2 3 , Natasha Michael 4 , Mark Trevaskis 1 , Melissa M Moore 5 6 , Jennifer Weil 5 7 , Peter Martin 8 9 , Luc JC van Loon 1 10 , Eva M Zopf 1
  1. Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  2. Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  3. Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  4. Palliative Medicine, Cabrini Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  5. Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  6. Medical Oncology, St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  7. Palliative Care, St. Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  8. School of Medicine, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  9. Palliative Care, Barwon Health, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
  10. NUTRIM School for Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands

Cancer cachexia is a muscle-wasting syndrome and a common adverse effect of cancer and its treatment among patients with advanced or incurable cancer. Exercise is a promising supportive care intervention for cancer cachexia. However, patients with cancer cachexia likely face added exercise barriers given the presence of functional limitations and increased cancer symptoms. Incorporating technology to remotely supervise exercise may promote exercise participation, while minimising patient burden. The feasibility of this type of exercise intervention in this population is currently unknown. Aims: To report preliminary adherence rates and tolerability to a supervised virtual exercise intervention designed for patients with cancer cachexia. Methods: Adults with locally advanced or metastatic cancer and cachexia (i.e., >5% body weight loss over the previous six months) were referred between July 2020 and May 2021 to an 8-week virtual exercise intervention. Exercise sessions were delivered three days/week and included combined aerobic and resistance exercise training. All sessions were remotely supervised using videoconference technology (Zoom). Exercise adherence was defined as attendance (sessions attended out of total offered). Exercise tolerability was evaluated using the Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale (6 to 20). Results: Forty-three patients were referred and 18 (42%) were eligible and enrolled (mean±standard deviation: age: 60.3±18 years, female: n=12, 66%). Two participants withdrew (attrition: 11%). Exercise session attendance was 84.4±14.8%. Participant RPE for aerobic and resistance exercise training was 12.6±0.5 and 13.0±0.6 (i.e., perceived as “somewhat hard”), respectively. Exercise session duration, excluding warm-up and cool-down, was 27.6±3.5 minutes. Conclusions: Exercise intervention adherence and tolerability are important metrics to establish exercise feasibility. Our preliminary results indicate a supervised virtual intervention is feasible for this patient group. Remote delivery of exercise interventions may increase exercise accessibility, although whether this type of intervention is as effective as in-person exercise programming should be investigated.