The effects of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and an in-hospital exercise training programme on physical fitness and quality of life in locally advanced rectal cancer patients: a randomised controlled trial (The EMPOWER Trial)

Table 1 Patient characteristics

	Exercise (n = 17)	Control (n = 16)	Non-randomised (n = 5)
Age (years)	64 (14)^a	57 (10)^a	68 (7)^a
Gender (% male)	14 (82%)	12 (75%)	4 (80%)
Smoking (%) current	4 (24%)	2 (13%)	1 (20%)
Body mass index (BMI) (kg/m²)	26 (4) ^a	26 (3) ^a	24 (4) ^a
Past medical history
Heart failure	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Diabetes	2 (12%)	1 (6%)	0 (0%)
Ischemic heart disease	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Cerebrovascular disease	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Cancer staging
Tumor
T2	1 (6%)	2 (13%)	0 (0%)
T3/T3a	9 (53%)	8 (50%)	1 (20%)
T3b	2 (12%)	2 (13%)	0 (0%)
T3c	2 (12%)	1 (6%)	0 (0%)
T3d	0 (0%)	1 (6%)	0 (0%)
T4	3 (18%)	2 (13%)	3 (60%)
Missing	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (20%)
Node
N0	4 (24%)	4 (25%)	0 (0%)
N1	7 (41%)	7 (44%)	3 (60%)
N2	6 (35%)	5 (31%)	1 (20%)
Missing	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (20%)
Metastases
M0	16 (94%)	16(100%)	4 (80%)
M1	1 (6%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Missing	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (20%)
Operation
Abdomino-perineal excision	4 (24%)	3 (19%)	0 (0%)
Anterior resection	8 (47%)	3 (19%)	0 (0%)
Central pelvic exenteration	0 (0%)	2 (13%)	0 (0%)
Hartmann’s and liver resection	1 (6%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
No surgery (complete responder)	1 (6%)	3 (19%)	0 (0%)
No surgery (disease progression)	1 (6%)	1 (6%)	3 (60%)
No surgery (drop-out/withdrawn)	2 (12%)	4 (25%)	2 (40%)

Cancer staging is reported using TNM classification (V.5, 1997) with sub-classifications. Central pelvic exenteration included excision of rectum and pelvic side wall ± lymphadenectomy
^aAll data are presented as n (%) mean except for age and BMI which are mean (SD)

ISSN: 2047-0525