Breast Cancer Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Purpose: Ongoing symptoms and impairments in quality of life (QOL) among breast cancer survivors remain a significant problem. We tested the feasibility and acceptability of a manualized Ayurvedic nutrition and lifestyle intervention for breast cancer survivors. Methods: Eligible participants had Stage I-III breast cancer, underwent treatment within the past year that included che-motherapy, and were without active disease. The 4-month individualized Ayurvedic intervention included counseling on nutrition, lifestyle, yoga, and marma (like acupressure) during 8 one-on-one visits with an Ayurvedic practitioner. Feasibility and acceptability were the primary outcomes. QOL (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire [EORTC QLQ C30]) and symptoms-sleep disturbance (General Sleep Disturbance Scale [GSDS]), fatigue (Lee Fatigue Scale [LFS]), depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale [CES-D]), anxiety (Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory [STAI-S, STAI-T]), and stress (Perceived Stress Scale [PSS])-were measured prior to, at midpoint, and at the end of the 4-month intervention. Effect sizes (Cohen's d) were calculated along with paired t tests comparing baseline to end of month 4 time points. Mixed effects models were used for repeated measures analyses. Results: Participants (n ¼ 32) had a mean age of 48 years (SD ¼ 10). Retention at the end of the intervention was 84%. Among those who completed the intervention (n ¼ 27), adherence was high (99.5% of visits with practitioners attended). Large improvements were seen in QLQ-C30 emotional functioning (d ¼ 0.84, P < 0.001), QLQ-C30 cognitive functioning (d ¼ 0.86, P < 0.001), GSDS (d ¼-1.23, P < 0.001), and CES-D (d ¼-1.21, P < 0.001). Moderate improvements were seen in QLQ-C30 global health (d ¼ 0.65, p ¼ 0.003), LFS (d ¼-0.68, P ¼ 0.002), and PSS (d ¼-0.75, P < 0.001). No adverse events were observed due to the intervention.