A randomized controlled trial of qigong on fatigue and sleep quality for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients undergoing chemotherapy.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Chan-Chuang qigong exercise in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients who were undergoing chemotherapy on fatigue intensity and sleep quality.

METHODS

The study was a single-centre, controlled randomized study. One hundred and eight subjects were randomly assigned to the qigong group (n = 54) or control group (n = 54). The qigong group received Chan-Chuang qigong exercise 20-min twice daily for 21 days in the course of the chemotherapy treatment, whereas the control group without special exercise intervention. Outcome measures included fatigue and sleep quality.

RESULTS

After the three-week intervention, participants who were in the qigong group had lower fatigue intensity scores than those in the control group. The results of generalized estimating equations (GEE) analyses showed a significant group-by-time interaction effect in average fatigue, worse fatigue, and overall sleep quality (p < 0.001). The average fatigue, worse fatigue, and overall sleep quality significantly decreased over time in the qigong group.

CONCLUSIONS

Chan-Chuang qigong exercise could be regarded as an adjunct measure in clinical practice. This study cannot completely discount the possible influence of placebo effects, and more objective clinical outcome measures are needed to produce our findings with long-term follow-up in a randomized controlled study.