Each year, around 3,500 people in the Netherlands are diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. The average survival is currently two to three years, but one in four patients is still alive after five years. Some individuals are known to survive for up to fifteen years. However, these patients cannot be cured. They remain under treatment for the rest of their lives, continuously dealing with side effects and symptoms. They are fatigued, short of breath, experience pain, and often have a declined physical fitness. Meanwhile, their daily life continues: they go to work, manage a family, and maintain an active social life.
Foto: Onconet
The PREFERABLE-EFFECT trial investigated whether physical training could help these patients experience less fatigue and achieve a better quality of life. The study involved 357 patients (including two men) with metastatic breast cancer. The control group received standard care and treatments, while the experimental group was offered a nine-month physical training program. This program included endurance, strength, and balance training, such as indoor cycling, bench presses, and squats. Participants were supervised by a physiotherapist specialized in oncology: twice a week for the first six months and once a week for the final three months.
At three, six, and nine months, the groups were compared to one another. The results showed that participants in the physical training program experienced less fatigue and reported a better quality of life. Additionally, they had less pain and shortness of breath. Participants were highly motivated to continue physical training after nine months: the program helps people integrate exercise into their treatment and make it a regular part of their daily routine.
Martijn Stuiver, a clinical epidemiologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute and the local principal investigator for the study, stated, "This study shows that a supervised physical training program for people with metastatic breast cancer results in a reduction of fatigue and pain and an increase in fitness and quality of life. Our recent research involving 420 patients with metastatic breast cancer in Europe, conducted with the same research consortium, indicates that fatigue and weakness are reasons for not actively engaging in training among some individuals. Some respondents also expressed concerns that training may lead to an increase in pain rather than a decrease in symptoms. The newly released results of the PREFERABLE-EFFECT study demonstrate that these problems actually decrease with active training. However, adequate supervision is very important. In the Netherlands, physiotherapists affiliated with Onconet (www.onconet.nu) can provide such support."
The study was coordinated by the Julius Centre of UMC Utrecht and is a collaboration between healthcare centers in five European countries (Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands) and Australia. The Netherlands Cancer Institute is one of the partners within this research consortium.
In this video, you can learn more about what researchers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute are doing in their quest to improve the quality of life for cancer patients after cancer (treatment).