Clinical Newswire, June 6, 2010 (Chicago, IL) -The largest randomized, controlled study to date looking at the benefits of a yoga program designed specifically for cancer survivors found that participation in a month-long yoga program helped them sleep better, reducing the need for sleep medication, and experience a better quality of life (QOL) and less fatigue. The study results were presented during an oral session at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
Sleep quality is often disturbed as a result of cancer treatment. According to lead author Karin Mustian, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of radiation oncology and community and preventive medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, “Very few, if any, treatments for the sleep problems and fatigue that cancer survivors experience work well for very long, if at all.”
The study was conducted in 9 National Cancer Institute designated community oncology programs across the United States and involved 410 survivors of early-stage cancer (96% women, 75% breast cancer patients) who reported sleep disturbance between 2 and 24 months after completing standard treatment for cancer. Mean patient age was 54 years. Patients with sleep apnea or metastatic cancer, and patients who had participated in yoga classes within 3 months prior to the study were excluded from study.
Participants were randomized to receive either standard care alone or standard care plus participation in a four-week, twice-weekly standardized yoga program, YOGAS@ (Yoga for Cancer Survivors). Each session was 75 min long and consisted of postures (seated, standing, transitional and supine), breathing exercises and mindfulness exercises such as meditation and visualization. Compliance with the program was good, with 86% of participants attending 5 or more of the 8 sessions and one-third of patients attending all 8 sessions. Sleep quality, fatigue and QOL were assessed at baseline and at the end of the four-week program.
Patients in the yoga group reported significant improvements in sleep quality (22% vs. 12%, p<0.05) and significantly greater reductions in fatigue (42% vs. 12%, p<0.05) compared to the control group. Yoga participants also reported an improved QOL (6%), while no changes were reported in the control group. Specifically, patients in the yoga group reported less daytime sleepiness (29% vs. 5%, p<0.05) and reduced incidence of clinically impaired sleep (31% vs. 16%, p<0.05) than the control group, while at the same time reducing their sleep medication use by 21%. In contrast, sleep medication use was increased by 5% in the control group (p<0.05).
Based on these results, the YOGAS@ program was found to be effective for improving sleep quality, fatigue, QOL, daytime sleepiness and for reducing sleep medication use.
According to Dr. Mustian, “The study results point to a simple, non- pharmacological therapy which clinicians can recommend to help patients with several very common cancer-related problems”.
|
