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Table 1 Patients’ characteristics

From: Fatigue, barriers to physical activity and predictors for motivation to exercise in advanced Cancer patients

Characteristic

All (n = 141)

Physically inactive a(n = 110)

Physically active a(n = 31)

Group differences (p value)

Mean age (SD; range), years

60 (±11; 26–83)

61 (±11; 26–83)

59 (±11; 35–80)

 

Sex (%)

 Female

85 (60.3)

64 (58.2)

21 (67.7)

 

 Male

56 (39.7)

46 (41.8)

10 (32.3)

 

Tumour type (%)

 Gastrointestinal Cancer

44 (31.2)

36 (32.7)

8 (25.8)

 

 Lung Cancer

40 (28.4)

32 (29.1)

8 (25.8)

 

 Breast Cancer

28 (19.9)

17 (15.5)

11 (35.5)

 

 Sarcoma

11 (7.8)

11 (10.0)

0 (0)

 

 Others b

11 (7.8)

8 (7.3)

3 (9.7)

 

 Head and Neck Cancer

7 (5.0)

6 (5.4)

1 (3.2)

 

Previous adjuvant chemotherapy (%)

43 (30.5)

31 (28.2)

12 (38.7)

 

Previous palliative chemotherapy (%)

84 (59.6)

68 (61.2)

16 (51.2)

 

 Number of lines, mean (SD; range)

1.77 (±1.1; 1–7)

1.67 (±1.1; 1–7)

2.25 (±1.3; 1–5)

 

Duration since metastatic cancer, months, mean (SD; range)

22.7 (±26.0; 0–147)

19.5 (± 22.2; 0–147)

34.0 (±34.6; 2–137)

***

Current therapy c (%)

 Chemotherapy

91 (64.5)

74 (67.3)

17 (54.8)

 

 Immunotherapy

28 (19.9)

22 (20.0)

6 (19.4)

 

 Antibody therapy

8 (6.4)

5 (4.5)

3 (9.7)

 

  Combined w/ Hormonal treatment

3 (2.1)

1 (0.9)

2 (6.5)

 

  Monotherapy

5 (3.5)

4 (3.6)

1 (3.2)

 

 Targeted therapy

11 (7.8)

6 (5.5)

5 (16.1)

 

  Combined w/ Hormonal treatment

7 (5.0)

2 (1.8)

5 (16.1)

 

  Monotherapy

4 (2.8)

4 (3.6)

0 (0)

 

 Hormonal treatment

3 (2.1)

3 (2.7)

0 (0)

 

ECOG-status (%)

 0

68 (48.2)

48 (43.6)

20 (64.5)

 

 I

50 (35.5)

39 (35.5)

11 (35.5)

 

 II

13 (9.2)

13 (11.8)

0 (0)

 

 III

1 (0.7)

1 (0.9)

0 (0)

 

 Missing

9 (6.4)

9 (8.2)

0 (0)

 

Comorbidities (%)

 Cardiovascular disease

81 (57.4)

68 (61.8)

13 (41.9)

 

 Anemia d

39 (27.7)

32 (29.1)

7 (22.6)

 

 Musculoskeletal disorder e

31 (22.0)

26 (23.6)

5 (16.1)

 

 Thyroid gland disease

29 (20.6)

26 (23.6)

3 (9.7)

 

 Pulmonary disease

27 (19.1)

24 (21.2)

3 (9.7)

 

 Diabetes mellitus

24 (17.0)

22 (20.0)

2 (6.5)

 

 Psychiatric disease

12 (8.5)

9 (8.2)

3 (9.7)

 

 Polyneuropathy

5 (3.5)

3 (2.7)

2 (6.5)

 

Number of comorbidities, mean (SD, range)

2.51 (±2.0; 0–10)

2.75 (± 2.0; 0–10)

1.68 (± 1.8; 0–7)

***

  1. Abbreviations: ECOG Eastern Co-operative Oncology Group performance index, SD standard deviation
  2. *** significant group differences with p < 0.05
  3. a Physically inactive = no activity at all; physically active = at least 1 time/week with low Intensity
  4. b Genitourinary Cancer (n = 4), other Gynaecologic Cancers (n = 2), CUP (n = 1), Glioblastoma (n = 1), Others (n = 3)
  5. c Last therapy before answering the Questionnaire
  6. d A haemoglobin value < 10.0 mg/dl was defined as “Anemia”
  7. e Present musculoskeletal disorders were Arthrosis, Osteoporosis, Joint infection, Bechterews disease, Chronical Pain Syndrome, Herniated Disc, Rheumatoid Arthritis
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