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Abstract

Purpose: The American Cancer Society (ACS) has acknowledged the importance of maintaining a healthy diet and engaging in regular physical activity for cancer survivors. While studies have found that adherence to these guidelines improves long-term quality of life, several studies showed that up to 70% of cancer survivors do not meet the standards. The purpose of this pilot study is to determine the effectiveness of a multi-disciplinary survivorship clinic (MDSC) in helping patients adhere to the ACS survivorship guidelines and its impacts on quality of life (QOL).

Methods: Primary objective of the study is to encourage cancer patients to adhere to ACS guideline of exercising for 150 minutes per week with MDSC intervention. Subjects were recruited from the MDSC with a life expectancy of greater than 12 months, and currently not adhering to the ACS guidelines for physical activity (n=31). Subjects received a Fitbit tracker that recorded their physical activity levels. Survivors were evaluated with baseline assessments of physical activity, and completed two QOL questionnaires at baseline, 3- and 6-months (FACIT and FACT G).

Results: Out of 30 participants,15 subjects completed all of the questionnaires and 10 patients had complete Fitbit data, and five subjects had both. All subjects with Fitbit data met ACS guidelines. Eleven out of 15 subjects had improved FACT-G scores and eight subjects had improved FACIT scores.

Conclusions: Available data showed that Fitbit intervention with MDSC was beneficial in maintaining exercise recommendations. We were able to show that subjects’ FACIT and FACT-G scores had improved with the planned intervention of Fitbit and MDSC. Due to the pandemic, the cohort size, and the subjects lost to follow-up, study is unable to show statistical improvement as planned although it showed trend towards improvement in QOL measures within the available data.

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