Lack of physical activity may affect outcome of patients.(breast cancer)

2003 APR 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women diagnosed with breast cancer are less physically active after diagnosis than prior to diagnosis, which may contribute to a poorer prognosis.

Findings in a recent U.S. National Cancer Institute-supported study published in the April 1, 2003. issue of Cancer indicate that most women diagnosed with breast cancer exercise or engage in any sort of physical activity an average 2 hours a week less after diagnosis than before diagnosis, marking an 11% decrease.

Women who were already obese before diagnosis or who received the most intensive breast cancer treatment, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, reported the most significant decline in physical activity after diagnosis.

The authors concluded that, "Decreases in physical activity with a diagnosis of breast cancer may lead to increases in body weight and body fat, which, in turn, may lead to a poorer breast cancer prognosis." The paper's lead author, Melinda Irwin, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor in the department of epidemiology and public health at Yale School of Medicine, conducted the research while a postdoctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The study also involved researchers from the National Cancer Institute, the University of New Mexico and the University of Southern California.

The role of weight and body fat in the prognosis of breast cancer is important. A woman who is overweight with elevated body fat at the time of diagnosis has a poorer prognosis with increased risk of recurrence and poorer survival than a woman of normal body weight and body fat. Scientists hypothesize that because fat cells produce estrogens after a woman goes through menopause, having higher levels of body fat at breast cancer diagnosis or experiencing weight gain following diagnosis may be associated with a worse prognosis, since estrogens stimulate breast cancer cells. However, scientists know almost nothing about the role of weight gain on prognosis after a breast cancer diagnosis.

Weight gain and subsequent increased body fat affects more than 80% of women ...