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Weight Gain Worsens
Breast Cancer Survival
Women who gain weight after a diagnosis
of breast cancer face a higher risk of dying from the disease,
according to a new report.
"The majority of women who undergo treatment for a breast cancer
diagnosis gain weight subsequent to treatment, and this may adversely
impact survival," Dr. Candyce H. Kroenke from Harvard Medical
School, Boston, told Reuters Health.
She said doctors "may wish to work with women to develop a plan
that can help them to maintain weight after breast cancer diagnosis
and treatment."
Kroenke added, "There is good evidence to suggest that a healthy
diet and physical activity, which may help women to maintain
healthy weight, may also improve survival after diagnosis."
Kroenke and colleagues evaluated the impact of weight gain on
breast cancer survival in 5204 women who developed breast cancer
while participating in the Nurses' Health Study.
The team found that weight gain after breast cancer diagnosis
was associated with an increased risk of the disease recurring
and of dying from breast cancer death, but only among women who
had never smoked.
The association between weight gain and breast cancer mortality
was evident only among women whose weight had been normal, and
not among those who were overweight at the time of their diagnosis,
the investigators report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
"The fact that so many women gain weight after diagnosis (60
percent or more depending on the study) suggests that women undergoing
treatment encounter particular difficulties and barriers in attempting
to maintain a healthy weight," Kroenke explained.
"For example, treatment with chemotherapy has been linked to
weight gain. I am hopeful and optimistic that new treatments
developed in the future will have fewer negative side effects," she
said.
"An important follow-up to this study would be to explore how
weight loss influences survival," Kroenke concluded. "I have
been working to develop a study about particular aspects of diet
that might help women to maintain weight after a breast cancer
diagnosis."
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, March 1, 2005.
Reference
Source 89
April
6,
2005
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