Researchers Find Physical Activity Linked To Breast Cancer Survival
Wisconsin Women Contribute to Findings
February 25, 2008

 
MADISON—Can an active lifestyle after a breast cancer diagnosis improve a woman’s chance of surviving the disease?

Based on a study published this month, moderate to vigorous exercise may be an important part of breast cancer patients’ treatment.

A research team, including investigators from the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, published its findings in the February, 2008 edition of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention.

“The results suggest that women with breast cancer who exercise are more likely to survive longer than women who are less active,” said epidemiologist Amy Trentham-Dietz, who contributed to the research. The American Cancer Society recommends 30 minutes of moderate activity at least five days a week.

Trentham-Dietz, a faculty member of the UW department of Population Health Sciences and UW Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center, published a study in 2007 showing women who are active have a lower risk of developing breast cancer.

The new findings indicate that women with a breast cancer diagnosis who engaged in moderate to vigorous exercise had a 35 percent to 45 percent decreased risk of death.  The five-year survival rate for breast cancer patients who were moderately active was 97 percent. 

“A trend was found in the data. So even small amounts of exercise may be beneficial,” noted Trentham-Dietz.

Nearly 4,500 women who did not have a history of recurrence at the time of completing the questionnaire were surveyed by principal investigators Crystal Holick, an epidemiologist formerly from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington and Polly Newcomb, a UW Carbone Cancer Center visiting scientist and researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. 

In this latest study, participants from Wisconsin, Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the 20-year-old Collaborative Women’s Longevity Study or Women’s Health Study were surveyed.  The researchers found that women who engaged in at least moderate physical activity had a significantly lower risk of dying from breast cancer.  The women ranged in age from 20 to 79 years old.

Holick says the findings back up Trentham-Dietz’s research that women have some control over their risk of breast cancer and survival chances after a diagnosis.

“The information gained in this study can help point out to women that being active is important as a long-term lifestyle choice,” said Holick.

Newcomb helped establish the UW Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center Women’s Health Study in 1987 while an assistant scientist of preventive medicine at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. She remains involved with the Women’s Health Study.

The study was funded through grants from the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the Avon Foundation and the National Cancer Institute.