At the 95th annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Orlando / Fla. the results of a study regarding the effect of exercise on breast cancer survival rates was presented. Dr. Michelle D. Holmes and co-workers (Harvard University in Boston) reported about data from the Nurses’ Health Study. About 2000 patients with breast cancer were identified in the period of 1984 to 1996 who were followed until the end of 2002. At that time 209 had died from their breast cancer. The investigators were able to control the data for all the other factors such as smoking, obesity, and many other factors except for the amount of exercise per week that these women were doing. The highest risk group was the one that did not exercise and the death rate of this group was set as 100% as can be seen in this table, which I constructed based on the published data.
The various groups as indicated on the bottom of the table were the hours exercised per week from 0 hours to more than 15 hours per week (this was expressed as metabolic equivalent of a brisk walk). It can be seen that survival from breast cancer can be influenced by as little as 3 to 9 hours of a brisk walk per week (about 20% reduction in death rate) and reaches a plateau at 9 to 15 hours of exercise per week (around 50% reduction in death rate).
Less Death Rates From Breast Cancer With Exercise
The authors of the study said that when the data was expressed as recurrence of breast cancer, the same results were obtained. This study would indicate that even 30 minutes of exercise per day will reduce mortality in a patient with breast cancer. Also, it is known from other studies that exercise will be more effective in terms of cancer prevention in general including prevention of breast cancer.
| Percentage of breast cancer death rates decreases with exercise (hours of exercise per week depicted) |
 Breast Cancer Death Rate Decreases With Exercise |
Link to breast cancer chapter of the Net Health Book.
Link to Fitness: http://nethealthbook.com/health-nutrition-and-fitness/fitness/
Last edited October 26, 2014
About Ray Schilling
