The Power of Movement: Lowering Breast Cancer Risk in Postmenopausal Women
In the quest to understand the relationship between physical activity and breast cancer, a study was conducted among postmenopausal women. The study, part of the Women's Health Accelerometry Collaboration, used accelerometers to measure physical activity levels. The results were intriguing, showing that higher levels of physical activity were associated with a lower risk of breast cancer.
The study involved over 21,000 postmenopausal women who wore an ActiGraph GT3X+ on their hip for at least four days. The women were followed for an average of 7.4 years, during which time the researchers identified cases of breast cancer. The results showed that women in the highest tertile of physical activity had a lower risk of breast cancer compared to those in the lowest tertile. However, these associations were not independent of body mass index (BMI) or physical function.
In conclusion, the study suggests that physical activity could be a potential tool in the fight against breast cancer. However, it's important to note that the benefits of physical activity varied by age and obesity, and were not independent of BMI or physical function. This highlights the complexity of the relationship between physical activity and breast cancer risk, and the need for further research in this area.
Article Information
Accelerometer-measured physical activity and postmenopausal breast cancer incidence in the Women's Health Accelerometry Collaboration
Published in Cancer. Andrea Z LaCroix et al.
Abstract
Background: Few studies have examined accelerometer-measured physical activity and incident breast cancer (BC). Thus, this study examined associations between accelerometer-measured vector magnitude counts per 15 seconds (VM/15s) and average daily minutes of light physical activity (LPA), moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), and total PA (TPA) and BC risk among women in the Women's Health Accelerometry Collaboration (WHAC).
Methods: The WHAC comprised 21,089 postmenopausal women (15,375 from the Women's Health Study [WHS]; 5714 from the Women's Health Initiative Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health Study [OPACH]). Women wore an ActiGraph GT3X+ on the hip for ≥4 days and were followed for 7.4 average years to identify physician-adjudicated in situ (n = 94) or invasive (n = 546) BCs. Multivariable stratified Cox regression estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for tertiles of physical activity measures in association with incident BC overall and by cohort. Effect measure modification was examined by age, race/ethnicity, and body mass index (BMI).
Results: In covariate-adjusted models, the highest (vs. lowest) tertiles of VM/15s, TPA, LPA, and MVPA were associated with BC HRs of 0.80 (95% CI, 0.64-0.99), 0.84 (95% CI, 0.69-1.02), 0.89 (95% CI, 0.73-1.08), and 0.81 (95% CI, 0.64-1.01), respectively. Further adjustment for BMI or physical function attenuated these associations. Associations were more pronounced among OPACH than WHS women for VM/15s, MVPA, and TPA; younger than older women for MVPA; and women with BMI ≥30 than <30 kg/m2 for LPA.
Conclusion: Greater levels of accelerometer-assessed PA were associated with lower BC risk. Associations varied by age and obesity and were not independent of BMI or physical function.
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