TY - JOUR
T1 - Yoga Therapy in Cancer Care via Telehealth During the COVID-19 Pandemic
AU - Mallaiah, Smitha
AU - Narayanan, Santhosshi
AU - Wagner, Richard
AU - Cohen, Chiara
AU - Christie, Aimee J.
AU - Bruera, Eduardo
AU - Lopez, Gabriel
AU - Cohen, Lorenzo
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health through MD Anderson’s Cancer Center Support Grant CA016672, a grant from the Duncan Family Institute for Cancer Prevention and Risk Assessment, and the Richard E. Haynes Distinguished Professorship for Clinical Cancer Prevention at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (L Cohen).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2022/1/1
Y1 - 2022/1/1
N2 - Background: Yoga is an evidence-based mind-body practice known to improve physical and mental health in cancer patients. We report on the processes and patient-reported outcomes of one-on-one yoga therapy (YT) consultations delivered via telehealth. Methods: For patients completing a YT consultation between March 2020 and October 2021, we examined demographics, reasons for referral, and self-reported symptom burden before and after one YT session using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS). Changes in ESAS symptom and subscale scores [physical distress (PHS), psychological distress (PSS), and global distress (GDS)] were evaluated by Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Descriptive statistics summarized the data. Results: Ninety-seven initial YT consults were completed, with data evaluated for 95 patient encounters. The majority were women (83.2%) and white (75.8%), The mean age for females was 54.0 and for males was 53.4; the most common diagnosis was breast cancer (48%), 32.6% had metastatic disease, and nearly half (48.4%) were employed full-time. Mental health (43.0%) was the most common reason for referral, followed by fatigue (13.2%) and sleep disturbances (11.7%). The highest symptoms at baseline were sleep disturbance (4.3), followed by anxiety (3.7) and fatigue (3.5). YT lead to clinically and statistically significant reductions in PHS (mean change = −3.1, P <.001) and GDS (mean change = −5.1, P <.001) and significant reductions in PSS (mean change = −1.6, P <.001). Examination of specific symptom scores revealed clinically and statistically significant reductions in anxiety (mean change score −1.34, P <.001) and fatigue (mean change score −1.22, P <.001). Exploratory analyses of patients scoring ≥1 for specific symptoms pre-YT revealed clinically and statistically significant improvements in almost all symptoms and those scoring ≥4 pre-YT. Conclusions: As part of an integrative oncology outpatient consultation service, a single YT intervention delivered via telehealth contributed to a significant improvement in global, physical, and psychosocial distress. Additional research is warranted to explore the long-term sustainability of the improvement in symptoms.
AB - Background: Yoga is an evidence-based mind-body practice known to improve physical and mental health in cancer patients. We report on the processes and patient-reported outcomes of one-on-one yoga therapy (YT) consultations delivered via telehealth. Methods: For patients completing a YT consultation between March 2020 and October 2021, we examined demographics, reasons for referral, and self-reported symptom burden before and after one YT session using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS). Changes in ESAS symptom and subscale scores [physical distress (PHS), psychological distress (PSS), and global distress (GDS)] were evaluated by Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Descriptive statistics summarized the data. Results: Ninety-seven initial YT consults were completed, with data evaluated for 95 patient encounters. The majority were women (83.2%) and white (75.8%), The mean age for females was 54.0 and for males was 53.4; the most common diagnosis was breast cancer (48%), 32.6% had metastatic disease, and nearly half (48.4%) were employed full-time. Mental health (43.0%) was the most common reason for referral, followed by fatigue (13.2%) and sleep disturbances (11.7%). The highest symptoms at baseline were sleep disturbance (4.3), followed by anxiety (3.7) and fatigue (3.5). YT lead to clinically and statistically significant reductions in PHS (mean change = −3.1, P <.001) and GDS (mean change = −5.1, P <.001) and significant reductions in PSS (mean change = −1.6, P <.001). Examination of specific symptom scores revealed clinically and statistically significant reductions in anxiety (mean change score −1.34, P <.001) and fatigue (mean change score −1.22, P <.001). Exploratory analyses of patients scoring ≥1 for specific symptoms pre-YT revealed clinically and statistically significant improvements in almost all symptoms and those scoring ≥4 pre-YT. Conclusions: As part of an integrative oncology outpatient consultation service, a single YT intervention delivered via telehealth contributed to a significant improvement in global, physical, and psychosocial distress. Additional research is warranted to explore the long-term sustainability of the improvement in symptoms.
KW - COVID-19
KW - cancer
KW - complementary and alternative treatments
KW - integrative medicine
KW - integrative oncology
KW - patient-reported outcomes
KW - telehealth
KW - telemedicine
KW - yoga
KW - yoga therapy
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U2 - 10.1177/15347354221141094
DO - 10.1177/15347354221141094
M3 - Article
C2 - 36510480
AN - SCOPUS:85143994750
SN - 1534-7354
VL - 21
JO - Integrative cancer therapies
JF - Integrative cancer therapies
ER -