Cancer-related fatigue: Trigger factors and function of exercise

Abstract

Introduction: Several publications have theorized about the triggers of cancer-related fatigue, one of the side effects of the disease and its treatments that most stress cancer survivors. On the other hand, physical exercise has been analyzed as a therapy to reduce the impact of this sequel, and several institutions support its inclusion within care programs for the oncological population. However, cancer fatigue and the role that exercise plays in its control has been exposed without an overall assessment that shows its complexity and why physical exercise is so valuable to reducing it. Objectives: The objective of this work was to review the existing evidence about triggers of fatigue in cancer, to expose how physical exercise acts on each of them to control their symptoms and achieve a comprehensive therapeutic effect. Material and method: Several bibliographic searches were carried out to find out which were the triggers of fatigue proposed by the research, how they develop and affect the oncological patient and, finally, to what extent physical exercise would be a viable tool to control its effects. Results: Exposed to more than twenty triggers and aggravating factors of cancer-related fatigue, we found that most of them could be prevented or at least controlled through physical exercise. Conclusions: It is impossible to isolate some triggers from others, and some of them are inevitable as they are part of the medical treatment of the disease. Understanding the relationships between triggers and knowing the positive effects of physical exercise on each one of them is clearly useful to control this side effect.