A trial of exercise therapy for women having treatment for breast cancer

The research team found that exercise did provide a benefit for women having treatment for early stage breast cancer.

This trial recruited 203 women and they were randomised into one of two groups. There were

• 101 women in the exercise group, and
• 102 women in the ‘control’ group

Those in the exercise group did a 45 minute supervised group exercise session twice a week, and were encouraged to exercise once more each week at home. The research team looked at factors such as

• Quality of life
• Fitness levels and shoulder mobility
• Body mass index (BMI)
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Mood

They assessed the women taking part at the start of the trial, at 12 weeks and again at 6 months.

They found that in the group who took part in the exercise classes there were improvements in many areas, but not all. At twelve weeks they saw an improvement in fitness levels, shoulder mobility and mood. Six months later this was still the case, but at this point there was also an improvement in quality of life relating to breast cancer. This means fatigue and hormonal symptoms, for example. Although there was a positive trend when they assessed overall quality of life, this was not significant in statistical terms

The research team concluded that exercise provided a functional and psychological benefit. And they advise doctors to encourage their patients to exercise.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.