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Final Program


Final Program

1017 - Understanding the Relationship Between Symptom Severity and Physical Activity Behaviors in Older Cancer Survivors with Chronic Pain

Thursday, February 27, 2025
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM MST
Objectives: To investigate the relationship between physical activity (PA) behaviors and common cancer-related symptoms including physical function, pain interference, fatigue, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, and social isolation in older adult cancer survivors with chronic pain.

Design: Older adult (65+ years) cancer survivors who experience chronic pain completed an online questionnaire to self-report their current PA behaviors (light, moderate, and strenuous) and symptom severity. PA frequency per week was collected using the GLTEQ. Symptoms were reported using PROMIS questionnaires which included physical function 6b, anxiety 6a, depression 6a, fatigue 6a, sleep disturbance, 6a, ability to participate in social roles 6a, and pain interference 6a. Descriptive statistics were used to report participant characteristics. Correlations were run to assess the relationship between activity behaviors and each reported symptom.

Results: A total of 53 cancer survivors participated in the study including 3 bladder, 25 breast, 1 cervical, 2 colorectal, 3 endometrial, 8 lung, and 16 prostate cancer survivors. Participants averaged 70.8 ± 10.8 years old and were 58.5% female. GLTEQ reports engagement in strenuous PA 0.33 times, moderate PA 1.58 times, and mild PA 2.64 times per week. Correlation analysis reveals a significant positive relationship between both moderate and strenuous PA and physical function (r=0.384, p=0.005 and r=0.395, p=0.004, respectively). Moderate PA was also significantly associated with greater social participation (r=0.423, p=0.002) and inversely related to fatigue (r=-0.361, p=0.009) and depression (r=-0.354, p=0.01).

Conclusions: Moderate PA is associated with higher-rated physical function, lower levels of fatigue and depression, and greater social participation in older cancer survivors. These findings highlight the role of moderate-level PA in managing common cancer-related symptoms. Integrating PA recommendations into the clinical care of older cancer survivors with chronic pain may be an effective approach to reducing symptom burden and improving quality of life.