Experience and compliance with exercise before cancer surgery for older people with frailty
About the Project:
Four out of ten people over the age of 65 who have surgery live with frailty. After surgery, these individuals face a greater than two-fold increase in their risk of dying or developing a new disability. Doing exercise before surgery is a promising means to decrease the risks faced by older people with frailty, but this area has not been well researched.
Our research group is currently undertaking the largest experiment to date testing the role of exercise in improving function and quality of life for older people with frailty having surgery. This study directly addresses two of the Canadian Frailty Network’s (CFN) the top ‘Frailty Priorities’. These priorities include (1) using the presence of frailty to inform treatment and care, and (2) the role of exercise in preventing and managing frailty. For exercise to become a routinely used means to improve outcomes after surgery for older people with frailty, we need to ensure that people are willing and able to comply with the exercise program. This will require an in-depth understanding of the factors that influence older people’s adherence with exercise programs.
Therefore, we propose a three-stage study. First, we will complete a systematic review to identify known predictors of adherence with exercise programs in older people with frailty. Next, we will apply this knowledge to our exercise study to identify the specific factors that predict adherence with exercise before surgery, as well as to identify behaviors of older people with frailty that may be a barrier to exercise.
Read more about the project’s impact by clicking here.
Project Team
Principal Investigator:
- Daniel McIsaac, MD, MPH, FRCPC — The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Co-Investigators:
- Sylvain Boet, MD, PhD, FRCPC — The Ottawa Hospital/Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Gregory Bryson, MD, FRCPC, MSc — University of Ottawa/Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Alan Forster, MD, FRCPC, MSc — The Ottawa Hospital/Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Sylvain Gagne, MD, FRCPC — University of Ottawa/Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Allen Huang, MD, FRCPC — University of Ottawa/The Ottawa Hospital/Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Manoj Lalu, MD, PhD, FRCPC — Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Luke Lavallee, MDCM, MSc, FRCSC — Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Colin McCartney, MD, FRCPC — University of Ottawa/Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Husein Moloo, MD, FRCPC, MSc — Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Julie Nantel, PhD — University of Ottawa
- Barbara Power, MD, FRCPC — University of Ottawa/The Ottawa Hospital
- Celena Scheede-Bergdahl, PhD — McGill University
- Monica Taljaard, PhD — Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
- Carl van Walraven, MD, MSc, FRCPC — University of Ottawa/Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences
HQP:
- Sophie Pilon, MD — University of Ottawa
- Matthieu Vierula, MD — University of Ottawa
Project contact: Daniel McIsaac — dmcisaac@toh.on.ca
CAT2018-16
Keywords: frailty; exercise; patient experience; qualitative research study; randomized controlled trial; surgical procedures