ASPO Abstracts
Utility of short physical performance battery and grip strength to monitor aging related functional decline among breast cancer survivors
Category: Survivorship & Health Outcomes/Comparative Effectiveness Research
Conference Year: 2019
Abstract Body:
Purpose: Recent literature has found that cancer treatments induce accelerated aging and functional decline. The extent of this decline among breast cancer (BC) survivors, as compared to healthy older adults and older adults with chronic disease, is not clear. We aimed to compare functional capability (a proxy measure of aging) of BC survivors to reference populations of older adults without a cancer diagnosis. Methods:This cross-sectional study evaluated baseline physical function measures taken from BC survivors (N=60, 57.3 years old ± 10.5), participating in a 13-week physical activity intervention, and compared them to reference populations of older adults with (70.3 years old ± 8.1) and without (70.0 years old ± 6.7) cardiovascular diseases (CVD). One sample t-tests were conducted to compare short physical performance battery (SPPB) mean scores (lower body function) and grip strength (upper body strength) of BC survivors to reference groups. Results:The Majority of BC survivors (41%) received a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, were 22.8 months ± 30.2 since diagnosis, and 58.9% were off treatment at enrollment. BC survivors exhibited significantly lower SPPB scores compared with the CVD population (10.23 vs. 11.2, p<0.01) and the healthy population (10.23 vs. 12, p<0.01). Survivors also experienced a significantly lower hand grip strength compared to the reference populations, (26 kg vs. 28.6 kg CVD, p<0.01 and 26 kg vs. 29.3 kg Healthy, p<0.01). Conclusions:BC survivors were observed to have a significantly lower functional capacity and grip strength compared to reference populations of older adults. Our results reflected the recent finding in literature that there is an earlier onset of age-related functional decline in survivors who received BC treatment. Altogether, our findings suggest a need for functional assessments to become part of cancer survivorship care to prevent or delay functional decline after treatment.
Keywords: Survivorship, Breast Cancer, SPPB, Physical Function, Hand strength