Relationship between physical function and quality of life based on treatment timing in patients with advanced lung cancer.
Norihiko Muraoka, Takanori Ro, Tetsuo Ota
PMID 39764298WHAT IT FOUND
In advanced lung cancer, patients on best supportive care had much worse walking, endurance, independence, fatigue and quality-of-life scores than those starting treatment.
Walking speed was closely linked to daily function, fatigue and social life.
Key findings
01Patients receiving best supportive care had significantly slower 10-meter walking, shorter 6-minute walking distance, lower motor FIM scores, and worse physical functioning than patients starting treatment.
02More than half of patients in every treatment group exceeded the fatigue cut-off, and more than 70% in every group exceeded the depression cut-off.
03In the subsequent treatment group, walking speed was significantly related to physical functioning, role functioning, cognitive functioning, social functioning, and fatigue.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
This was a single-centre study, and the groups were small: 45 patients in the initial treatment group, 21 in the subsequent treatment group, and 15 in the best supportive care group. The study did not test a rehabilitation intervention, so it cannot show that physical therapy improved function or quality of life. Patients were grouped by treatment timing and by receiving best supportive care, so differences may reflect disease severity or selection. The 6-minute walk distance could not be measured in 9 patients in the initial group, 6 in the subsequent group, and 8 in the best supportive care group. Quality of life was self-reported, and fatigue, anxiety, and depression were measured with questionnaires, while physical function was measured only around the start of physical therapy. The paper compared grip strength and walking distance with reference values for individuals aged 65-69 years, not with a control group of patients with advanced lung cancer.
Declared interests
The authors received no funding support and declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that rehabilitation improves physical function or quality of life. The study did not compare patients who received rehabilitation with patients who did not, and it only measured associations at one time point.