ANTHROPOMETRIC AND HORMONE EFFECTS OF AN 8-WEEK EXERCISE-DIET INTERVENTION IN BREAST-CANCER PATIENTS - RESULTS OF A PILOT-STUDY

To assess the feasibility of an exercise-diet intervention in sedentar y, overweight breast cancer patients, we conducted a pilot 8-week inte rvention, Recruitment letters and interest surveys were sent to 99 sta ge 1 or 2 breast cancer patients, ages 25-75 years, who were identifie d through two Seattle breast surgery practices and the University of W ashington Breast Clinic. Ten patients were eligible and interested and were enrolled in the intervention, which consisted of thrice-weekly m onitored aerobic exercise sessions and a low-fat (20% of calories from fat) diet. Nine patients completed the program; all adhered well to t he intervention and data collection protocol. The patients, ages 40-74 years, lost, on average, 2.6 pounds of body weight, 3.4 cm in waist c ircumference, 4.6 cm in hip circumference, 2.3% body fat, 3.3 systolic blood pressure points, 0.67 diastolic blood pressure points, and 4.0 pulse beats/min, and they gained an average of 2.3% lean mass. Slight, nonsignificant decreases were observed in serum concentration of tota l and free estradiol, estrone sulfate, total testosterone, androstened ione, and dehydroepiandrosterone. These pilot data indicate that breas t cancer patients are highly motivated to join and adhere to an intens e exercise-diet intervention and can experience significant measurable changes in anthropometric and fat mass measures.