Circadian actigraphic rest-activity rhythms following surgery for endometrial cancer: A prospective, longitudinal study

Objective. To investigate (1) circadian rest-activity rhythm disturbances among endometrial cancer patients as they recover from surgery in comparison to a historical reference group of women with no cancer history and (2) health- and treatment-related predictors of dysregulated rest-activity rhythms in endometrial cancer patients. Methods. 60 endometrial cancer patients participated in a prospective, longitudinal study with actigraphic assessment at 1 week, 1 month, and 4 months post-surgery. 60 women without cancer from an epidemiological sample completed one actigraphic assessment, acting as a reference group. Results. On average, results revealed initial significant rest-activity dysregulation at 1 week and 1 month post-surgery for the endometrial cancer group and then significant recovery in rest-activity patterns at 4 months post-surgery. Similarly, the cancer group had significantly more impaired rhythms than the reference group at 1 week post-surgery, but demonstrated comparable rhythms by 4 months post-surgery. Among the health- and treatment-related variables examined, obesity and receipt of more invasive surgery were found to predict more impaired rhythms at all time points. Conclusion(s). The current study highlights significant disturbances in rest-activity patterns for endometrial cancer patients initially during surgical recovery followed by improvement in these patterns by 4 months post-surgery; however, obese patients and those having more invasive surgery demonstrated more impaired rest-activity patterns throughout the 4-month recovery period. Further research is warranted to understand how more impaired rest-activity patterns relate to health and quality of life outcomes. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.