Exercise, counseling fights cancer-related fatigue

November 2, 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Both exercise therapy and psychological counseling might offer some relief from the fatigue that often plagues cancer patients, a new research review suggests.

In an analysis of 41 clinical trials, researchers found that when they combined the results of the studies, both counseling and exercise seemed to be modestly effective in battling cancer-related fatigue.

Past studies have shown that fatigue is one of the biggest drains on cancer patients' quality of life. It's not clear, however, how to best address the problem; fatigue may result from the cancer itself or the therapies used to treat it, and factors such as patients' lifestyle and emotional well-being can exacerbate fatigue.

Several small studies have suggested that exercise therapy, such as specially designed yoga classes, might help cancer patients feel more energized.

Similarly, some research suggests that psychological help -- group therapy or even over-the-phone counseling -- aids fatigue.

For the new study, researchers tried to get an overall view of the evidence by combining the results of many of these previous studies. Overall, the results provide "limited support" for using exercise or psychological therapy to relieve cancer fatigue, they report in the journal Health Psychology.

The evidence is limited, in part, because many clinical trials suffered from design flaws, and of those the researchers rated as better-quality, only about half showed benefits from counseling or exercise.

"The overall effects of both psychological and activity-based interventions on fatigue were modest," lead researcher Dr. Paul Jacobsen, of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, said in a statement.

However, he added that, at least in the studies of psychological counseling, the benefits were strong enough that they there were unlikely to be due to chance.

For cancer patients who are interested in trying exercise to aid fatigue, Jacobsen urged that they use caution.

"Patients should consult with their physicians before initiating an exercise regimen," he said. "They should also let their physician know if they plan to continue to engage in regular exercise while undergoing taxing treatments like chemotherapy."