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Randomized controlled pilot trial of yoga in overweight and obese breast cancer survivors: effects on quality of life and anthropometric measures

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Abstract

Purpose

To obtain estimates of time to recruit the study sample, retention, facility-based class attendance and home practice for a study of yoga in breast cancer survivors, and its efficacy on fatigue, quality of life (QOL), and weight change.

Methods

Sixty-three post-treatment stages 0–III borderline overweight and obese (body mass index ≥24 kg/m2) breast cancer survivors were randomly assigned to a 6-month, facility- and home-based viniyoga intervention (n = 32) or a waitlist control group (n = 31). The yoga goal was five practices per week. Primary outcome measures were changes in QOL, fatigue, and weight from baseline to 6 months. Secondary outcomes included changes in waist and hip circumference.

Results

It took 12 months to complete recruitment. Participants attended a mean of 19.6 classes and practiced at home a mean of 55.8 times during the 6-month period. At follow-up, 90% of participants completed questionnaires and 87% completed anthropometric measurements. QOL and fatigue improved to a greater extent among women in the yoga group relative to women in the control group, although no differences were statistically significant. Waist circumference decreased 3.1 cm (95% CI, −5.7 and −0.4) more among women in the yoga compared with the control group, with no difference in weight change.

Conclusions

This study provides important information regarding recruitment, retention, and practice levels achieved during a 6-month, intensive yoga intervention in overweight and obese breast cancer survivors. Yoga may help decrease waist circumference and improve quality of life; future studies are needed to confirm these results.

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Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported in part by the Office of Research and Development Cooperative Studies Program, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Transdisciplinary Research in Energetics in Cancer (NCI 1U54 CA116847). The contents do not represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the US Government. We gratefully acknowledge the study participants; Laura Yon Brooks and Christy Fisher, for assistance designing the yoga protocol and teaching classes; Ann Enomoto, Lisa Yeager, and Linda Heuertz, for teaching classes.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Seattle Epidemiologic Research and Information Center (ERIC), Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, 1100 Olive Way, Metropolitan Park West, Suite 1400, Seattle, WA, 98101, USA

    Alyson J. Littman

  2. Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Alyson J. Littman & Anne McTiernan

  3. Moores University of San Diego Cancer Center, San Diego, CA, USA

    Lisa Cadmus Bertram

  4. Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA

    Rachel Ceballos, Bonnie McGregor & Anne McTiernan

  5. National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany

    Cornelia M. Ulrich

  6. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Jaya Ramaprasad

Authors
  1. Alyson J. Littman
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  2. Lisa Cadmus Bertram
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  3. Rachel Ceballos
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  4. Cornelia M. Ulrich
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  5. Jaya Ramaprasad
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  6. Bonnie McGregor
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  7. Anne McTiernan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alyson J. Littman.

Additional information

This study was presented in part at the TREC-FHCRC-NCI Conference on Energy Balance, Cancer Prognosis, and Survivorship in Seattle, WA in October 2009.

The trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov (identifier: NCT00476203).

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Littman, A.J., Bertram, L.C., Ceballos, R. et al. Randomized controlled pilot trial of yoga in overweight and obese breast cancer survivors: effects on quality of life and anthropometric measures. Support Care Cancer 20, 267–277 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-010-1066-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-010-1066-8

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