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Yoga may reduce fatigue in breast cancer survivors
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Breast cancer survivors who practiced yoga for as little as a few months reported considerably less fatigue and had reduced levels of inflammation markers in their blood, according to results of a randomized controlled trial.
“Six months after taking up yoga, we found in these patients that fatigue dropped 57% and inflammation markers in the blood dropped up to 20%,” Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, PhD, an investigator at The Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center — James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute and the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, said in a press release. “The results could easily generalize to other groups of people who have issues with fatigue and inflammation.”
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser
The study included 200 survivors of stage 0 to stage IIIA breast cancer (age range, 27 to 76 years) who had undergone cancer treatment within the previous 3 years. All participants were yoga novices.
After a baseline evaluation, the participants were stratified by cancer stage (0 vs. I vs. II and IIIA), as well as radiation therapy status and history. Researchers assigned participants to yoga or control groups within their strata.
The participants assigned to one of 25 yoga groups took part in two 90-minute weekly Hatha yoga classes. Those assigned to the wait-list control group were instructed to continue their normal activities and to avoid beginning yoga class during the study period.
Researchers obtained subjective measures of fatigue by using the Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory, the vitality scale from the short form of the Medical Outcomes Study, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Fasting blood work was taken to determine levels of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and IL-1 beta.
Follow-up occurred immediately after treatment and at 3 months after treatment.
The researchers found that, in the initial post-treatment period, the yoga group participants did not exhibit lower fatigue (P>.05) compared with the controls but had higher vitality (P=.01). At 3 months after treatment, the yoga group had lower fatigue (P=.002), higher levels of vitality (P=.01), and lower levels of IL-6 (P=.027), TNF-alpha (P=.027) and IL-1 beta (P=.037) compared with the control group. Researchers noted no difference in levels of depression at either time point.
Predetermined secondary analyses showed that frequent yoga practice was more strongly correlated at both follow-up visits with fatigue (P=.019, P=.0001) and vitality (P=.016, P=.045), but not with depression (P>.05), than mere assignment to the yoga group. At the 3-month follow-up, increased yoga practice also led to a greater decrease in IL-6 (P=.01) and IL-1 beta (P=.03) production, but not with a greater decrease in TNF-alpha (P>.05).
“Chronic inflammation has been linked to a spectrum of health problems, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and osteoporosis,” the researchers wrote. “If yoga dampens or limits fatigue and inflammation, regular practice could have substantial health benefits.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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