An exerciSe program to improve depression And sleep Disorders in oncology patients: The SAD study

The purpose of this study was to determine if a structured supervised outpatient exercise program specifically for cancer patients would be associated with improvements in insomnia and depression after attending for 10-weeks. Descriptive observational study. 75 adult subjects attended an outpatient hospital based exercise program specifically for cancer patients and coordinated by an exercise physiologist and a physical therapist. Two validated instruments were administered to measure insomnia (Athens Insomnia Instrument) and depression (Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale) at baseline (prior to the start of the program) and repeated after 10-weeks of exercise. Forty (53.3%) completed the full 10 week program. Of the 40 that completed the program, an improvement in insomnia scores was seen (p-value