Effect of therapeutic care for treating fatigue in patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of therapeutic care (TC) for fatigue in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

METHODS

A total of 48 breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy were randomly divided into the intervention group and the control group, with 24 patients in each group. The patients in the intervention group were treated with TC, while the participants in the control group received the sham intervention. The interventions in both groups were for 30 min/d, 3 days weekly for 12 weeks. The primary outcome of fatigue was measured by the multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI). The secondary outcomes were measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). All outcomes were assessed before and after 6 and 12 weeks of the intervention.

RESULTS

The intervention with TC showed greater efficacy than sham TC in decreasing the MFI score after week 6 (P < .05) and week 12 (P < .01) of treatment. Significant differences were also found in the HADS and PSQI between the 2 groups after 12 weeks of treatment (P < .01).

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrated that TC might decrease fatigue and relieve the anxiety and depression of breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.