Lifestyle Interventions to Improve Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Reduce Breast Cancer Recurrence

Abstract

As patients are living longer after a cancer diagnosis, survivorship is becoming increasingly important in cancer care. The sequelae of multimodality therapies include weight gain and decreased cardiorespiratory fitness, which increase cardiovascular risk. Evidence suggests that physical activity reduces the risk of breast cancer recurrence and death. Avoidance of weight gain after therapy also improves outcomes after a diagnosis of breast cancer. Prospective randomized trials must be performed to determine the benefits of specific physical activity and dietary habits for survivors of breast cancer. This review outlines the important physiologic changes that occur with antineoplastic therapy and the important role of exercise and diet.

Novel Methods for Reporting of Exercise Dose and Adherence: An Exploratory Analysis

“…This, in turn, permitted estimation of MET expenditure of each exercise treatment session and, therefore, the total cumulative dose of the “planned” prescription. Use of CPET procedures is considered standard practice in exercise trials among patients with chronic respiratory disease and cardiovascular disease,(36) with an increasing number of trials utilizing this tool in exercise-oncology research;(37) as such, the approach used to quantify “planned” treatment dose in the present trial is generalizable to other trials in exercise-oncology research.…”

Increased skeletal intermuscular fat is associated with reduced exercise capacity in cancer survivors: a cross-sectional study

“…Future studies could assess whether IMF changes prior to, during, or after cancer treatment impact changes in VO 2 peak . The change in IMF during cancer treatment is of particular interest due to the documented reduction in exercise capacity during this period in past studies [1,18,19].…”

Exercise and cancer: a position statement from the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology

“…In conclusion, the real impact of PA on the risk of relapse and cancer mortality is not well-defined. PA may contribute to reduced cancer-related mortality and all-cause mortality in cancer survivors by modifying fat accumulation and improving cardiovascular and skeletal muscle function [ 129 ]. Numerous prospective observational studies consistently showed the benefit of PA on cancer outcomes; however, most of these studies were based on measures from self-reported questionnaires, including heterogeneous populations, and only a few performed a multivariable analysis to exclude the contribution of other confounding factors.…”