Baseline fatigue in early breast cancer survivors: understanding its prevalence in community-based exercise

Purpose Examine baseline fatigue levels in early-breast cancer survivors (EBCS) compared to inactive controls (CON) and identify associated physical and psychosocial factors with fatigue prior to community-based exercise. Methods A total of 33 EBCS (53.9 ± 11.4 years) and 21 CON (54.0 ± 8.0 years) were recruited. Participants completed questionnaires for demographics and patient-reported outcome measures pertaining to fatigue, quality of life, mental health, and physical activity, and completed a 6-min walk test, balance assessment, cardiopulmonary exercise test (VO 2peak ), and muscular strength test. A Mann–Whitney U test compared fatigue between groups and unadjusted univariable linear regressions were used to explore relationships with fatigue. Results Fatigue in EBCS was not statistically different from CON (EBCS: 16.9 ± 5.75; CON: 14.2 ± 3.4, p = 0.121). Univariable analyses showed lower fatigue in EBCS was associated with better Physical and Mental Health (both R 2 = 0.435; p