• Karen Steindorf, Dorothea Clauss, Christine Tjaden, Thilo Hackert, Florian Herbolsheimer, Thomas Bruckner, Lutz Schneider, Cornelia M Ulrich, and Joachim Wiskemann.
• Division of Physical Activity, Prevention and Cancer, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg, Germany
• Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2019 Jul 8; 116 (27-28): 471-478.

BackgroundImproving quality of life (QoL) is an important treatment goal in pancreatic cancer patients. Although the beneficial effects of exercise on QoL are well understood, few studies have investigated more aggressive cancers such as pancreatic cancer.MethodsWithin a randomized trial, we assessed the efficacy of 6-month resistance training on physical functioning (primary outcome) and further QoL-related outcomes. 65 pancreatic cancer patients were assigned to home-based training, supervised training, or a usual care control group. Analysis-of-covariance models on changes from baseline to 6 and 3 months were ap- plied.Results47 patients completed the intervention period. After 6 months, no effects of resistance training were observed. However, after 3 months, explorative analyses showed significant between-group mean differences (MD) in favor for resistance training for physical functioning (pooled group: MD=11.0; p=0.016; effect size[ES]=0.31), as well as for global QoL (MD=12.1; p=0.016; effect size=0.56), and other outcomes, such as sleep problems and fatigue. Multiple imputation analyses yielded similar results. Home-based and supervised training performed similarly.ConclusionThis first randomized resistance training trial in pancreatic cancer patients indicated clinically relevant improve- ments in QoL after 3 but not after 6 months. Given the severity of pancreatic cancer, exercise recommendations may already commence at surgery.

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