Objectives: To compare the effectiveness of yoga added to standard care (SC) versus SC only, in women with breast cancer during chemotherapy.
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Design: A multicenter pragmatic, randomized controlled study. Settings/Location: Three hospitals in the Netherlands. Subjects: Women with stage I–III breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy.
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Interventions: Women were randomized either to a program based on Dru Yoga, once a week yoga sessions for 12 weeks (N=47), or SC only (N=36).
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Outcome measures: Primary outcome fatigue (Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory [MFI]; general fatigue) and secondary outcomes fatigue (MFI, Fatigue Quality List [FQL]), quality of life (30-item Quality of Life Questionnaire-C of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer [EORTC-QLQ-C-30]) and psychological distress (Hospital AnxietyD epression Scale[ HADS], Impact of Events Scale [IES]) werem easured at baseline (T0), 3months (T1), and 6months (T2) and analyzed on observed cases. Other outcomes were adequate relief, reintegration to work, and adverse events.
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Results: No signiï¬cant differences were found in general fatigue at T1 (MFI: yoga; 14.6–4.5 vs. SC; 14.2–4.2, p=0.987). Similar ï¬ndings were observed for other fatigue (sub)scales of MFI and FQL and functional domains of EORTC. With respect to EORTCs symptom scales, women in the yoga group reported signiï¬cantly less nausea and vomiting compared with SC at T2 (p=0.004), but not at T1 (p=0.807). Depressive symptoms were signiï¬cantly lower with yoga at T1 (HADS: yoga; 4.7–4.1 vs. SC; 5.1–4.2, p=0.031). More women in the yoga group experienced adequate relief compared with SC at T1 (yoga; 51% vs. SC; 19%) and had returned to work at T2 (yoga; 53% vs. SC; 23%). No adverse events were reported with yoga.
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Conclusions: A Dru-based yoga program failed to demonstrate a signiï¬cant beneï¬cial effect on fatigue. Possible favorable effects of the yoga program on nausea and vomiting and early return to work in breast cancer survivors warrant further research.
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