The RolE of Prolonged Nightly faSTing to Improve Sleep and cOgnition in bREast Cancer Survivors (RESTORE)

Summary

The investigators are interested in finding out how Prolonged Nightly Fasting (PNF) and/or health education may impact health and cancer recovery for breast cancer patients and survivors.

Detailed description

The purpose of this innovative, remotely-delivered pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) is to explore the use of an 8-week prolonged nightly fasting (PNF) intervention, as compared to a Health Education-Only (HED-Only) control condition, among ethnically and racially diverse (≥50% Black, Hispanic, and/or Native American) breast cancer survivors (BCSs) with cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) to examine changes in cognitive function, sleep, insomnia and health-related quality of life (i.e., mental and physical). Additionally, intervention feasibility will be assessed among the PNF participants. All participants will receive health education (HED) throughout. BCSs living with CRCI (N=60) will be recruited nationwide and randomized 1:1 into the PNF or HED-Only groups. Linear mixed models will be used to compare outcome changes in the PNF group compared to HED-Only group (Aims 1-3); descriptive and qualitative analyses will be used in the Exploratory Aim.

Arms & interventions

• BehavioralProlonged Nightly Fasting

  At the start of the intervention (week 1) PNF participants will be asked to engage in fasting (14 hours a night, starting no later than 8pm) six nights a week (for the 8-week study duration). Participants will be asked to track their fasting start/stop times on a tracking sheet provided by study staff. During the nightly fast, participants will be allowed to drink water, coffee or tea (without dairy or sweeteners). Study staff will meet with participants via phone for weekly check-in calls (\~10-15 mins) to collect weekly fasting start/stop dates/times (entered into REDCap); alternately, participants may elect to email or text their fasting start/stop date/times to the study staff.

• BehavioralHealth Education Videos

  Provision of HED is a retention strategy and can influence outcomes. Thus, all participants will receive HED. Each week, participants will receive hyperlinks to videos focused on health educational content unrelated to fasting, diet and outcome measures. Participants will be asked to view the videos (\~10-15 min) prior to their weekly check-in calls with the study staff (\~5-10 mins for HED-Only Control group). They will receive each week's videos on a Monday, and receive a reminder to view on Friday. Study staff will follow a scripted HED weekly check-in call to ensure consistency of data collected. Weekly topics are as follows: W1: Internet safety, W2: Sun safety, W3: Home safety, W4: Driving safety, W5: Hydration, W6: Dental health, W7: Working environment, W8: Communication. Data collected on electronic forms during all participant/staff check-in calls will be stored in participant-specific ASU Dropbox files.

Outcome measures

Eligibility criteria