Adapted physical activity for hematology inpatients: focus on lean mass gain Open Access

APA is associated with lean mass gain with significant improvement in all physical tests.

APA is more efficient in case of shorter neutropenia or younger age.

Adapted physical activity (APA) is has become an essential asset in the care of patients with cancer. While its positive impact has mainly been studied regarding quality of life, few studies have focused on changes in lean mass (LM) and its determinants. This study reports the results of an APA program for inpatients in the hematology department of Nice University Hospital (France). Body composition analyses and physical tests were performed at admission and discharge. A total of 123 patients were analysed with relative LM gain as the primary outcome. Over a median hospitalization duration of 33 days, the average observed LM variation was + 0.32 kg (95% CI [0.15; 0.50]), representing an average relative gain of + 0.64% (95% CI [0.28; 1.01]), with significant improvement in all physical tests. In multivariate analyses, a younger age and a shorter neutropenia duration were best predictive of LM gain. We show here that it is possible to maintain LM during hospitalisation for hematology patients undergoing chemotherapy in a real-life setting.