Physical Exercise in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma
Posted: Thursday, January 2, 2020
The effectiveness of participating in exercise programs for patients with multiple myeloma is not a well-researched area. In an ongoing, randomized study, Niels Abildgaard, MD, of the University of Southern Denmark, and colleagues found that physical exercise in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma was safe and feasible, even in older patients and in those with myeloma bone disease. Their results were reported in the journal Pilot and Feasibility Studies.
In total, 40 of 49 patients met inclusion criteria. Of the 40 eligible patients, 30 accepted participation, and 10 patients declined. The median age of patients was 69 years, and 75% of the patients were men. The intervention (usual care and exercise) and control (usual care) groups were comparable in age, sex, and planned treatment. The exercise intervention included eight supervised exercise sessions (of 1 hour and 15 minutes) in addition to home-based exercise over 10 weeks. Supervised sessions included warm-up, aerobic exercise, strengthening exercises, and static strengthening exercises. Patients included an age-representative cohort of newly diagnosed patients and patients with clinical bone disease. Data were collected at the time of diagnosis, at baseline (before the intervention), during the intervention (weeks 1–10), and after the intervention (weeks 11–13).
Of the patients who began the intervention, 86% of patients (12 of 14) completed the full intervention, and 92% of patients (11 of 12) attended all supervised exercise sessions. All physical tests were tolerated and safe.
“Our ongoing randomized study will hopefully contribute importantly to answer the question if early initiated physical exercise in patients with multiple myeloma is effective on physical function, quality of life, pain, and bone disease,” the investigators concluded.
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
