STAYING ACTIVE through moderate walking may help prevent fatigue in men undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer, researchers in Dundee have found.

Lead author of the study, Ninewells-based Dr Phyllis Windsor, said the findings are in line with research with women undergoing radiation and chemotherapy for breast cancer.

The scientist, who was last year awarded the MBE for services to radiotherapy and oncology, said it was thought that such results “potentially apply to all groups of patients with cancer.”

Cancer patients commonly develop fatigue as the stress of the illness and the physical effects of treatment take their toll.

Patients undergoing treatment are commonly told to take it easy—while only 4% are advised to exercise—and Dr Windsor said some may self-impose limits on their daily activities.

However, in her team’s study of 66 men with cancer confined to the prostate gland, those who were physically active during their month of radiation treatment showed no substantial increase in fatigue.

The same was not true of patients in the non-exercising “control” group, according to findings published in the August issue of the journal Cancer.

Long periods of rest, Dr Windsor said, may de-condition muscles and roll back a person’s capacity for exercise, making even routine daily tasks tough to tackle.

Exercise, on the other hand, keeps muscles conditioned, so that everyday activities require less effort and are less taxing on the body.

In addition, the Dundee-based specialist pointed out, research suggests that exercise combats depression, which can alter patients’ perceptions of fatigue.

For the current study, the researchers randomly assigned 66 men with localised prostate cancer to either an exercise group or a control group.

Dr Windsor said she and her colleagues are now planning a larger study to see if walking or, for patients who cannot walk, chair-based exercises can counter fatigue in patients with a range of cancers, including prostate, cervical, uterine, bladder and kidney cancers.