Barriers and facilitators for weight management interventions in breast cancer patients: a systematic review of qualitative studies.

INTRODUCTION: This systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative studies provides an overview of barriers and facilitators that breast cancer patients experience in weight management interventions. METHODS: We included qualitative studies describing barriers and facilitators for weight management interventions as experienced by adult breast cancer patients after the completion of initial treatment . The data was extracted and using thematic analysis. RESULTS: After analysis, eleven themes were determined. Six of those themes could be linked to the Attitude, Social Influence and self Efficacy (ASE)-model. Physical and mental benefits, anticipated regret and a lack of motivation were linked to attitude. Integrating a weight management programme in daily life, stigma and fears were linked to self-efficacy. With regard to the social influence determinant, encouragement and discouragement by family members were developed as a theme. Four additional themes were conducted related to weight management behaviour; external barriers, economic barriers, cultural barriers and physical barriers. In addition, integrating weight management in cancer care was described as a separate theme. CONCLUSIONS: Several disease specific issues, including feeling stigmatized after cancer treatment and treatment-related side effects and peer-support should be given specific attention to maximize adherence of weight management programmes.

Sarcopenia, a strong determinant for prolonged feeding tube dependency after chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer.

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia might be a relevant lead for optimization of the condition of patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) before chemoradiotherapy (CRT) to prevent long-term functional swallowing impairment, such as feeding tube dependency. METHODS: Regression analyses were performed to assess the association between skeletal muscle mass index (SMI), as a measure of sarcopenia, and prolonged (>90 days) feeding tube dependency in 128 patients with HNC treated with primary CRT. RESULTS: Sixty-one patients (48%) became prolonged feeding tube-dependent. Lower SMI increased the risk of prolonged feeding tube dependency in multivariable analysis (risk ratio 1.08; 95% confidence interval 1.02-1.14, P = .01) adjusted for body mass index, abnormal diet, and socioeconomic status. CONCLUSIONS: Sarcopenia contributes to the risk of prolonged feeding tube dependency of patients with HNC treated with primary CRT. As sarcopenia might be a modifiable factor prior to treatment, it should be explored as a target for pretreatment patients' condition.

Adherence to Diet and Body Weight Recommendations among Cancer Survivors after Completion of Initial Cancer Treatment: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

This systematic review of the literature aimed to 1) provide an overview of the extent to which cancer survivors adhere to diet and body weight recommendations after completion of initial treatment and 2) gain insight into characteristics associated with adherence to these recommendations. Four databases were searched for relevant papers. We included observational studies describing adherence to recommendations on body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio and waist circumference, fruit and vegetable intake, and alcohol consumption of adult (≥18 yr) cancer survivors after the completion of initial treatment (i.e. surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy). Of the 2,830 articles retrieved from the database search, 12 articles were included. Adherence to the recommendation on BMI varied from 34% to 77%; adherence to the fruit and vegetable recommendation varied from 9% to 83%; and adherence to the recommendation on alcohol consumption varied from 62% to 96.8%. Adherence to waist-to-hip ratio (43%) and waist circumference recommendations (11%) was described in one study among overweight breast cancer survivors. The results of these studies generally suggest that adherence to the recommendation on alcohol intake is relatively high and that adherence to the recommendation on body weight and fruit and vegetable intake should particularly be promoted.