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. 2022 Oct 28;12:1009064. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.1009064

Table 3.

Summary of studies that examined rest-activity and cancer- and treatment-related symptoms.

Authors Fatigue Sleep Depressed mood Cognition Patient population Stage of cancer trajectory Rest-activity markers Outcome measures Study design Found association between rest/activity and CRTS Results
Ancoli-Israel et al. (196) X X X   Breast cancer (n=85) Newly diagnosed stage I-III scheduled to receive chemotherapy 72-h actigraphy:
F statistic, acrophase
Fatigue: MFSI-SF
Depression: CES-D
Sleep: PSQI, FOSQ
cross-sectional no No significant correlations between rhythm variables and fatigue, sleep, depression, or functional outcome of sleep.
Ancoli-Israel et al. (14) X X X   Breast cancer (n=68) and cancer-free controls (n=60) T1: Newly diagnosed stage I-III scheduled to receive chemotherapy
T2: end of cycle 4
T3: 1 year post-chemotherapy
72-h actigraphy: R-squared Fatigue - MFSI-SF;
Sleep - total sleep time, total nap time; PSQI global sleep quality score;
Depression - CES-D
longitudinal not tested T1: Patients longer total daytime nap time, worse sleep quality, more fatigue, more depression, and more disrupted rest-activity rhythms than controls;
T2: Patients worse sleep, increased fatigue, more depression, more disrupted rest-activity rhythms compared to T1 and to controls.
T3: Patients’ fatigue, depression returned to T1 levels, but still worse than controls; nap time and rest-activity rhythms did not differ from controls.
Ancoli-Israel et al. (197) X X X Breast cancer (n=69) and matched controls (n=64) T1: Newly diagnosed stage I-III scheduled to receive chemotherapy
T2: end of cycle 4
T3: 1 year post-chemotherapy
72-h actigraphy: R-squared Fatigue: MFSI-SF
Depression: CES-D
Sleep: PSQI, TST, WASO, %sleep, NAPTIME
Cognition: Neuropsychological test battery, PAOFI
longitudinal yes No significant group-by-time interaction in objective cognition.
Significant group-by-time interaction in self-reported cognition: significant decrements from Baseline to Cycle 4 and 1 year among breast cancer patients but no marked changes in controls.
Decreases in objective cognitive functioning in cancer patients predicted by less robust circadian activity rhythms, worsening sleep quality and increases in nap time compared to baseline.
Berger et al. (185) X X     Colon and rectal cancer (n=14) Stage II-III during chemotherapy 7-day actigraphy: mesor, amplitude, acrophase, circadian quotient, r24 Fatigue: Piper Fatigue Scale
Sleep: PSQI
cross-sectional not tested Disturbed sleep, low daytime activity, and impaired rest-activity rhythms during the first week after chemotherapy cycles 1–3.
Rhythm measures were 78%–83% (mesor) and 66%–72% (amplitude) of values obtained in healthy young adults. Rhythm consistency from day to day (r24) was 0.33-0.34 during the first week after chemotherapy 1–3.
Berger et al. (198) X   X   Breast cancer (n=190) randomized to behavioral therapy sleep intervention or healthy eating control group T1: Newly diagnosed stage I-IIIA 3-4 weeks before chemotherapy
T2: During cycle 3
T3: 30 days after last cycle
7-day actigraphy: mesor, amplitude, peak activity, acrophase, circadian quotient, r24 Fatigue – Piper Fatigue Scale, Daily Fatigue Intensity (Item #7 from Piper)
Depression - HADS
longitudinal intervention yes Rhythm parameters more disrupted compared to healthy adults.
More robust rhythms associated with lower fatigue, depressive symptoms, BMI and higher performance status.
Berger et al. (199) X X     Breast cancer (n=130) Stage I-IIIA during 48 hours before chemotherapy ≤48-h actigraphy: mesor, amplitude, acrophase, goodness of fit Fatigue: Piper Fatigue scale
Sleep: PSQI
cross-sectional yes Worse sleep quality and more impaired components of sleep quality, sleep latency, and habitual sleep efficiency correlated with lower mesor.
Longer subjective sleep latency was the only component associated with lower amplitude.
Cash et al. (200)     X   Head and neck cancer (n=55) Newly diagnosed before chemoradiation 6-day actigraphy: r24; I<O (nighttime restfulness); acrophase Depression: PHQ-9 depressive symptoms cross-sectional yes Cognitive and affective depression symptoms associated with rest-activity rhythm disruption.
Overall and somatic depression symptoms associated with phase shifts, shifting from morning to evening.
Rest/activity rhythm disruption and lower nighttime restfulness, but not acrophase, associated with 2-year overall survival.
Chang and Lin (193) X X X   Lung cancer (n=82) T1: Newly diagnosed
T2: 6 weeks
T3: 12 weeks
T4: 24 weeks
T5: 48 weeks after start of treatment
72-h actigraphy:
I<O
Fatigue: BFI
Sleep: PSQI
Depression: HADS
longitudinal not tested Compared with baseline, sleep–wake rhythms improved significantly after starting treatment.
Fatigue worsened significantly; depressive symptoms improved.
Chen et al. (192)   X     Lung cancer (n=106) Post-treatment 72-h actigraphy: r24, I<O Sleep: Actigraph-assessed TST, SE, SOL cross-sectional yes Significant positive correlations of the TST with I<O, SOL with UP activity mean.
Negative correlations of SE with UP activity mean, SOL with I<O, SOL with 24-h light-activity minutes.
Lower I<O, lower 24-hour light-activity minutes, and higher value for the UP activity mean had poorer objective sleep quality.
Du-Quiton et al. (201)   X X   Non-small cell lung cancer inpatients (n=42) and outpatients (n=42) Advanced stage before or beginning of chemotherapy 3 to 7-day actigraphy during first chemotherapy cycle (inpatients) or prior to chemotherapy (outpatients): mesor, amplitude, acrophase, circadian quotient, rhythm quotient, peak activity, r24, day-night activity balance, night-day sleep balance Depression: HADS cross-sectional yes Outpatients:
- more robust daily activity patterns (mean daily activity, daily amplitude, peak of activity) and longer, more consolidated nighttime sleep (night-day sleep balance) compared with inpatients.
- more disrupted daily sleep-activity rhythms associated with worse depression and/or anxiety.
- severely depressed outpatients - lower activity levels during daytime and more active during night than those with lower depression scores.
- inactivity during the day and daytime napping associated with depression;
- higher circadian amplitudes of activity, and higher peak daily activity associated with less depressed mood.
- better night-day sleep balance, more nighttime sleep and less daytime sleep were associated with lower depression scores.
Inpatients: No associations between circadian rhythms and depression.
Grutsch et al. (191) X X   X Lung cancer (n=84) Advanced stage in period prior to and during first treatment 4 to 7-day actigraphy: mesor, amplitude, acrophase, circadian rhythm robustness and day-to-day stability, peak activity, r24 Fatigue, Sleep, Cognition: EORTC fatigue, sleep, & cognitive subscales cross-sectional yes Insomnia severity correlates negatively with 24-hour autocorrelation, day-to-day stability.
Outpatient fatigue levels associated with diminished robustness of circadian quotient, rhythm quotient, night-day balance of time spent asleep.
More robust day-night activity/sleep measurement differences, the less fatigue these patients experience during each day.
Innominato et al. (202) X X     Cohort 1: Metastatic colorectal cancer (n=237)
Cohort 2: Histologically proven advanced or metastatic cancer requiring medical treatment (n=31)
Metastatic or advanced post-treatment 72-h actigraphy:
I<O
Cohort 1 – Fatigue, Sleep: EORTC QLQ-C30 v2
Cohort 2 – Fatigue, Sleep: MDASI
cross-sectional yes Cohort #1:
Significantly lower I<O associated with greater fatigue and sleep trouble.
Greater circadian disruption associated with more severe fatigue and sleep problems.
Cohort #2:
Significantly lower I<O associated with greater fatigue, but not sleep disturbance.
Greater circadian disruption associated with higher fatigue.
Levin et al. (190) X X X   Non-small cell lung cancer (n=33) Stage IIIA, IIIB-IV before or during chemotherapy 4 to 7-day actigraphy: circadian amplitude; circadian fragmentation/
amplitude of ultradian rhythms; circadian quotient; peak activity; I<O, rhythm quotient
Fatigue: EORTC QLQ-
   C30
Sleep: PSQI
Depression: EORTC QLQ-C30, QLI
Cognition: EORTC QLQ-C30
cross-sectional
(part of intervention study)
not tested No correlation between performance scores and any actigraphy data item.
Patients reported poor sleep quality as well as fatigue 20-points below population-based surveys.
Li et al. (151) X Breast cancer (n=180) T1: Stage I-III awaiting chemotherapy
T2: During first cycle
T3: At last cycle of chemotherapy
Percent rhythm, F-statistic, amplitude, mesor, acrophase Sleep: PSQI, actigraphically-assessed nighttime sleep duration, sleep efficiency, nighttime total wake time longitudinal not tested Sleep efficiency significantly lower than at baseline, but higher than beginning of chemotherapy.
Percent rhythm, F-statistic, and mesor at end of chemotherapy were significantly lower than baseline.
Did not examine associations between CTRS and rest-wake activity.
Liu et al. (122) X       Breast cancer (n=148) and healthy controls (n=61) T1: Stage I-III before chemotherapy
T2: After 4 cycles of chemotherapy
72-h actigraphy: amplitude, acrophase, mesor, up-mesor, down-mesor, F-statistic Fatigue: MFSI-SF longitudinal yes Increases in fatigue significantly associated with greater disruptions in amplitude, mesor, and F-statistic over time.
Ma et al. (203)   X     Cancer (n=68) Advanced stage, at least 3 months post-surgery 72-h actigraphy: r24, I<O Sleep: PSQI; 3 d sleep log;
actigraphy-assessed TIB, TST, SE, WASO, SOL, waking episodes
cross-sectional yes Actigraphy-assessed sleep parameters (TST, SE, SOL, WASO but not TIB, waking episodes) correlated with rhythm parameters (r24 and I<O).
Rest/activity rhythms of patients with poor sleep quality (PSQI>5) were much less regular than those with good sleep quality.
r24 significantly predicted sleep quality (negative association).
Miaskowski et al. (204) X X     Breast, prostate, lung, or brain cancer (n=185) Before radiation therapy 24-h actigraphy: mesor, amplitude, acrophase, r24 Fatigue: LFS
Sleep: PSQI, GSDS
cross-sectional yes Significant correlations between PSQI global score and SOL, TST, sleep period time, mesor, and circadian quotient.
Significant correlation between fatigue subscores and acrophase.
Mormont and Waterhouse (205)* X   X   Colorectal cancer (n=200) Metastatic, before chronotherapy 3 to 5-day actigraphy: mean activity level, r24, I<O Fatigue: EORTC QLQ-C30 v2.
Depression: HADS
cross-sectional yes Fatigue was associated with all activity scores.
Depression was associated with dampened rhythm parameters (r24 and I<O)
Ortiz-Tudela et al. (188) X       Cancer (n=49) T1: Advanced stage, before chronotherapy
T2: During chronotherapy
T3: Right after chronotherapy
T4: Late after chronotherapy
13-day actigraphy spanning the four time points: I<O, r24, interdaily stability, intradaily variability, relative amplitude Fatigue: NCI CTC-AE v3.0 longitudinal yes Circadian disruption (i.e., I<O ≤ 97.5%) during or after chemotherapy associated with significantly higher risk of clinically significant fatigue.
Palesh et al. (206)   X     Colorectal cancer with sleep problems (n=155) and no sleep problems (n=82) Metastatic, before treatment 72-h actigraphy:
I<O, clock time of lowest activity using cosinor analysis, average activity counts
Sleep: TST, SE, sleep latency, WASO cross-sectional yes Patients with sleep complaints had worse circadian function (i.e., lower I<O) compared to those without sleep problems (96.4% vs 98.1%) with clinical cut off of 97.5%.
Rich et al. (59) X X Colorectal cancer, normal (high r24, n=40) and dampened 24-h rest-activity patterns (low r24, n=40) Metastatic, before chronotherapy 3-day actigraphy: r24 (high = top quartile, low = bottom quartile), I<O, mean activity Fatigue: EORTC QLQ-C30 v2.
Depression: HADS
cross-sectional yes High r24 patients had significantly fewer fatigue symptoms than low r24 patients, but no differences in anxiety and depression.
Roscoe et al. (207) X   X   Breast cancer (n=78) undergoing chemotherapy or radiation or both (but not overlapping) randomized to either paroxetine or placebo T1: 72 h after second on-study treatment
T2: 72 h after fourth on-study treatment
Actigraphy: r24, mean activity Fatigue - FSCL, MAF
Depression: CES-D, HDI, POMS
longitudinal yes r24, mean activity significantly correlated with percent sleep and mostly significantly correlated with fatigue, mood and depression.
Change scores in r24 and mean activity over time were in general significantly correlated with changes in fatigue, mood, depression (unrelated to paroxetine).
Sultan et al. (183) X     X Breast cancer (n=25) T1: Newly diagnosed during cycle 1 chemotherapy
T2: During cycle 2 chemotherapy
T3: During cycle 3 chemotherapy
72-h actigraphy: mesor, amplitude, acrophase; rhythm quotient, circadian quotient, peak activity, I<O, r24 Fatigue, Sleep, Cognition: Hindi QLQ-C30 longitudinal no Significant decrease on all functional and symptom scales that include fatigue, insomnia and emotional domains from cycle 1 to cycle 6.

*Note that this study overlaps with Mormont et al. (173) so have omitted one from this table.

CES-D, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; EORTC QLQ-C30 v.2, The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life Questionnaire version 2; FOSQ, Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire; FSCL, the Fatigue Symptom Checklist; GSDS, General Sleep Disturbance Scale; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; HDI, Hamilton Depression Inventory; I<O, actigraphic dichotomy index; LFS, the Lee Fatigue Scale; MAF, the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue; MDASI, MD Anderson Symptom Inventory; MFSI-SF, Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory – Short Form; NCI CTC-AE v3.0, National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 3.0; PAOFI, Patient Assessment of Own Functioning Inventory; PHQ-9, Patient Health Questionnaire-9; POMS, Profile of Mood States; PSQI, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; QLI, Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index; r24, autocorrelation coefficient at 24 hours; SE, sleep efficiency; SOL, sleep onset latency; TIB, time in bed; TST, total sleep time; WASO, wake after sleep onset.