Circadian Rhythmicity as a Predictor of Quality of Life in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Patients

Context
Quality of life (QoL) is increasingly recognized as an important outcome of cancer treatment. Previous studies have examined clinical predictors of QoL, but with the increasing prevalence of wearable sensors that monitor sleep and activity patterns, further investigation into whether these behaviors are predictive of post-treatment QoL is now feasible. Among patients receiving aggressive cancer treatment such as hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), analysis of circadian rhythms (24-hour patterns of sleep and activity) via wearable sensors is limited.

Objective
To evaluate the relationship between overall QoL and circadian rhythms in patients receiving allogeneic HCT.

Methods
Patients wore an ActiGraph GT3X (Pensacola, FL) activity monitor for at least 72 hours before the initiation of conditioning chemotherapy and transplantation and completed a QoL (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General [FACT-G]) assessment. QoL assessments were also completed 1, 3, and 6 months after HCT.

Results
Patients (n = 45, M age = 55) were mostly male (66%) with a total FACT-G score of 80.96 (SD = 16.05) before HCT. Mixed models revealed robust cross-sectional associations between overall QoL and multiple circadian rhythmicity parameters, including durations of high physical activity, overall circadian rhythmicity, and earlier starts of daily activity (P’s < .01). Recovery of QoL after transplant was predicted by longer pre-transplant durations of high physical activity (P = .04) and earlier evening retirement (P = .04).

Conclusion
Our findings suggest that wearable sensor information is a promising method of predicting recovery of QoL after HCT. Additional studies are needed to confirm these findings in a larger sample.