Lifetime Activity Cuts Breast Cancer Risk

A new study adds further credence to the motto: A healthy lifestyle leads to a healthy life. In this case, researchers led by Dr. C.M. Friedenreich of the Alberta Cancer Board in Canada have found that women who have been active throughout their life have a significantly lower risk of breast cancer.

Writing in the American Journal of Epidemiology, Friedenreich's team compared a number of lifestyle factors for 1,200 women with breast cancer with 1,200 women without the disease. These included menstrual and reproductive histories, use of hormones, family history and other breast cancer risk factors, levels and types of lifetime physical activities, and other health-related lifestyle issues.

After isolating for genetic risk factors, the researchers found that postmenopausal women who were the most active throughout their lives were 30 percent less likely to develop breast cancer compared to women with the lowest lifetime activity levels. This was especially true if they did not smoke, drink alcohol and had never given birth. No associations between physical activity and breast cancer were found for premenopausal women.

Interestingly, the researchers also found that household and occupational activities had even more of a health benefit than sports and exercise classes, although all forms of physical activity had a discernible benefit.

"This study provides evidence that lifetime total activity reduces the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer," the authors concluded. However, they cautioned that they were still unable to determine the exact mechanism by which physical activity lowered breast cancer risk.

"Numerous questions remain regarding the role of physical activity and breast cancer that need to be addressed," they wrote.

SOURCE:
American Journal of Epidemiology, August 15, 2001; 154:336-347

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