Yale Cancer Center reveals new findings from a phase III randomized clinical trial that suggest six months of an aerobic exercise intervention reduces chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) symptoms among ovarian cancer survivors.
The new research was published in JAMA Network Open on August 1.
Participants were enrolled in the Women's Activity and Lifestyle Study in Connecticut (WALC) between May 2010 and March 2014. The structured aerobic exercise WALC intervention had already been found to improve physical health-related quality of life. In the current analysis, the researchers evaluated the impact of the exercise program compared to an attention-control group on CIPN severity in patients with ovarian cancer who received chemotherapy.
Among the 134 participants, those in the exercise intervention arm reported a reduction of 1.3 points in CIPN symptoms at the end of the six-month program. In contrast, the attention-control group experienced a minor increase in CIPN symptoms of 0.4 points. The positive effects of aerobic exercise were even stronger for participants with CIPN symptoms at trial enrollment. This subgroup experienced a larger reduction (2.0 points) in CIPN severity.
