My study is about a randomised controlled trial examining the effect of qigong, which is a mind-body exercise, on frailty of older cancer survivors. The study was conducted in Hong Kong and we compared the effect of qigong against an active control group which is light flexibility exercise for improving frailty of the older cancer patients.

What was the study design?

It was a randomised controlled assessor-blind trial in which the older cancer survivors who were screened as pre-frail or frail were recruited and we randomised them into either a 16-week qigong intervention or an active control condition which is light flexibility exercise. The group sessions for both groups were held at the same frequency and same duration and we measured frailty using the Fried phenotype and we also included some secondary outcomes like physical performance, psychological wellbeing and quality of life. The outcome measurement was carried out at 8 weeks and 16 weeks and we analysed data using the intention to treat principle.

What were the results of this study?

We found that both qigong and light flexibility exercise where participants showed improvement in frailty score, each representing a small, clinically meaningful change. However, the magnitude of improvement in both groups did not differ. So the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant and also similar for the secondary outcomes – both groups had significant within group improvement in physical performance, psychological wellbeing and quality of life but the between group differences of the two groups were insignificant.

What is the significance of these results?

Both qigong and light flexibility exercise can be recommended to the frail older cancer survivors, given their promising within group changes in frailty score. Of note, the improvement in frailty score represented a small, clinically meaningful change for both groups. Also for future research we can adopt an innovative control condition in order to distinguish the treatment effect of qigong or light flexibility exercise. Also some research can be carried out to examine the underlying mechanisms that drive the change in frailty of the interventions.