Effect of walking on circadian rhythms and sleep quality of patients with lung cancer: a randomised controlled trial.
BACKGROUND
Sleep disturbances and poor rest-activity rhythms, which can reduce the quality of life, are highly prevalent among patients with lung cancer.


METHODS
This trial investigated the effects of a 12-week exercise intervention including home-based walking exercise training and weekly exercise counseling on 111 lung cancer patients. Participants were randomly allocated to receive the intervention or usual-care. Outcomes included objective sleep (total sleep time, TST; sleep efficiency, SE; sleep onset latency, SOL; and wake after sleep onset, WASO), subjective sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI), and rest-activity rhythms (r24 and I<O). Outcomes were assessed at baseline and 3 and 6 months after intervention.


RESULTS
The PSQI (Wald χ2=15.16, P=0.001) and TST (Wald χ2=7.59, P=0.023) of the patients in the exercise group significantly improved 3 and 6 months after intervention. The moderating effect of I<O on TST was significant (β of group × I<O=3.70, P=0.032).


CONCLUSIONS
The walking program is an effective intervention for improving the subjective and objective sleep quality of lung cancer patients and can be considered an optional component of lung cancer rehabilitation.
School of Nursing, College of Nursing, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei, Taiwan.|School of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Hui-Mei
HM
Chen
Chest Department, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.|School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chun-Ming
CM
Tsai
School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.|Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Yu-Chung
YC
Wu
Institute of Hospital and Health Care Administration, Community Medicine Research Center, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Kuan-Chia
KC
Lin
School of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Chia-Chin
CC
Lin
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012890:Sleep; D016138:Walking