Health-related physical fitness in patients with multiple myeloma or lymphoma recently treated with autologous stem cell transplantation

We aimed to examine health-related physical fitness and its demographic and clinical correlates in patients recently treated with autologous stem cell transplantation. Cross-sectional study. In 109 patients (multiple myeloma: n=58, lymphoma: n=51, median age: 55, range: 19-67 years) maximal exercise testing was conducted to assess cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2peak). Upper and lower extremity muscle strength were assessed with hand grip- and fixed dynamometry and body composition with whole body DXA scans. In addition, we assessed the patients' demographic and clinical characteristics and examined whether they were associated with health-related physical fitness. VO2peak was 21.7 (5.5) mL/min/kg, 26% below reference values. Muscle strength was also reduced when compared with reference values (upper extremity: 90%, lower extremity: 80%) and 73% of our population was classified as overweight or obese. Being female and being older were significantly associated with a lower cardiorespiratory fitness (gender: β=-2.7, 95%CI=-4.6;-0.7mL/min/kg; age: β=-0.2, 95%CI=-0.3;-0.1mL/min/kg), upper (gender: β=-17.7, 95%CI=-20.1;-15.3kg; age: β=-0.2, 95%CI=-0.3;-0.1kg) and lower (gender: β=-58.3, 95%CI=-73.5;- 43.0Nm; age: β=-1.7, 95%CI=-2.4;-1.1Nm) extremity muscle strength. Patients who were non-smoking (β=-5.3, 95%CI=-8.7;-1.9), women (β=7.2, 95%CI=4.8;9.6) and diagnosed with multiple myeloma (β=4.6, 95%CI=2.2;6.9) had a higher percentage body fat. The physical fitness deficits in this population indicate the need for targeted interventions. Netherlands Trial Register - NTR2341