Research Project
10328010
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Profound disparities exist in comorbid disease risk and lifestyle behaviors during and following chemotherapy in Hispanic and Black cancer patients, compared with European American counterparts. This includes declines in cardiorespiratory fitness paired with cardiotoxic effects, placing minority cancer patients at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease. Despite the beneficial effect of exercise training for cancer patients, rates of participation in clinical cancer trials are low among disadvantaged and racial/ethnic minority groups, possibly due to greater barriers and less access to exercise training. Therefore, the need for novel accessible and cost- effective home-based exercise intervention aimed at the Hispanic and Black communities to better understand physical activity interventions is crucial. We propose a pilot randomized trial to examine the effect of 16-week supervised and unsupervised exercise interventions in sedentary, overweight or obese Hispanic and Black cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy for the treatment of breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer. This proposal will address the following aims: 1) examine whether the inventions will increase daily minutes of exercise performed per week; 2) assess the effect of the inventions on cardiovascular risk factors; 3) determine the effect of the inventions on patient-reported outcomes and physical function. We hypothesize that both exercise groups will experience a significant increase in minutes of daily exercise per week, reductions in cardiovascular disease risk, improved quality of life, and physical function when compared to Controls. This study is innovative because a) we will conduct the study in high-need, understudied population, b) this is the first study to employ a novel and achievable intervention for a minority population receiving chemotherapy, c) integration of novel physiological variables for the intervention. Our proposal addresses the priority focus of this funding opportunity announcement through the design and implementation of an exercise intervention for an underserved, understudied, vulnerable population- Hispanic and Black patients receiving chemotherapy. The Co-PIs Drs. Dieli-Conwright (DFCI) and Yan (UMB) will bring together their expertise in exercise science, cancer survivorship, and cardiovascular physiology to successfully execute this project. This collaboration is uniquely made possible by the UMB-DF/HCC Partnership with the resources supported by the NCI CPACHE. Findings from this study will generate new knowledge about the effects of exercise intervention and provide guidance towards improving the quality and treatment tolerability in this population of underserved, vulnerable patients with cancer.
