Nurse Counseling for Physical Activity in Patients Undergoing Esophagectomy.
Hiroko Komatsu, Shigeaki Watanuki, Yurie Koyama and 5 others
PMID 28002078WHAT IT FOUND
After esophagectomy and nurse counseling, with 65.5% receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, median physical activity returned to baseline by 6 months; inactive patients fell from 34.6% to 18.2%.
Because it was nonrandomized, this cannot show counseling caused the change.
Key findings
01Median physical activity returned to the baseline level by 6 months after discharge, and inactive patients decreased from 34.6% to 18.2%.
02Global quality of life fell at 2-4 weeks after discharge but was close to baseline at 3 and 6 months.
03BMI declined after discharge, from 21.7 at baseline to 18.8 at 6 months.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was nonrandomized and had only patients receiving counseling, so it cannot show whether counseling changed outcomes. Twenty-nine patients participated at one Japanese hospital, and seven dropped out during follow-up. The sample was small and single-site. Most participants had minimally invasive surgery, so results may not apply to all esophagectomy patients. The esophageal quality-of-life module's reliability had not been established. Patients also underwent esophagectomy, and 65.5% received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, so the effect of counseling cannot be separated.
Declared interests
The authors reported no funding or conflict of interest to disclose. The study was registered in the UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN000011416).
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that nurse counseling caused the median return to baseline physical activity. Patients also underwent esophagectomy, and 65.5% received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, while the study was nonrandomized, so it cannot show counseling caused the changes.