Factors That Affect Decisions About Physical Activity and Exercise in Survivors of Breast Cancer: A Qualitative Study

AbstractBackgroundExercise has many benefits for survivors of breast cancer, yet only half of this population regularly exercise. Fear has been identified as a barrier to exercise for people with neuromusculoskeletal conditions but has been minimally explored in women with breast cancer.ObjectivesThe purposes of this study were: (1) to investigate factors that affected decisions about physical activity and exercise in survivors of breast cancer and (2) to determine whether fear was a factor.DesignThis investigation was a grounded-theory qualitative study. Qualitative data were triangulated with data from 2 quantitative scales that measured participants' beliefs about exercise and their activity levels.MethodsThirty-four survivors of breast cancer in 8 focus groups participated in semistructured interviews that were recorded, transcribed, and coded. Concept maps created for each group were merged to develop themes. Beliefs about physical activity and exercise were assessed with the Decisional Balance Scale. The Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity was used to assess behaviors regarding physical activity and exercise before and after the breast cancer diagnosis.ResultsParticipants generally believed that exercise was beneficial (Decisional Balance Scale score: X̅=28.1 [of a maximum score of 44], SD=7.6, range=10–43). Participants decreased the amount of physical activity or exercise during treatment but increased the amount of exercise beyond prediagnosis levels after treatment (Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity score: median=6, range=2–7). Three prominent themes described participants' behaviors regarding physical activity or exercise: values and beliefs about exercise, facilitators and barriers that were both similar to those affecting the general population and cancer specific, and lack of or inaccurate information about safe exercise.ConclusionsSurvivors who were active were not afraid to exercise. However, concern about lymphedema and knowledge about safe and effective exercise programs influenced choices regarding physical activity and exercise.

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Physical Activity and Survival Subsequent to Metastatic Breast Cancer Diagnosis

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e620262010-001 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Susan Sharp ◽

Ashleigh Golden ◽

Cheryl Koopman ◽

Eric Neri ◽

David Spiegel

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Physical Activity ◽

Metastatic Breast Cancer ◽

Cancer Diagnosis ◽

Metastatic Breast ◽

Breast Cancer Diagnosis

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Effect of physical activity levels on oncological breast surgery recovery: a prospective cohort study

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-89908-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ifat Klein ◽

Leonid Kalichman ◽

Noy Chen ◽

Sergio Susmallian

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Physical Activity ◽

Chronic Pain ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Breast Cancer Surgery ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Axillary Web Syndrome ◽

Function Range ◽

A Prospective Study ◽

The Impact

AbstractAfter breast cancer (BC) surgery, women may experience a physical decline. The effect of physical activity (PA) on the course of recovery after BC surgery has not yet been thoroughly examined. To analyze the impact of physical activity performed by women undergoing breast cancer surgery on measures of function, range of motion, and self-efficacy. A prospective study was carried out in 157 patients who underwent surgery for BC between October 2018 and April 2019, divided into four groups according to the intensity of PA with 6 months follow-up. 50 sedentary patients and 107 active patients were enrolled; the mean age was 52.6. Women who performed physical activity, moderate to vigorous, demonstrated lower function disabilities (QuickDASH 2.22) compared with inactivity or light physical activity (QuickDASH 7.0, p < 0.001), with better shoulder flexion (159.0° vs. 150.7°, p = 0.007) and abduction (159.5° vs. 152.2°, p = 0.008). Higher PA levels, displayed in higher self-efficacy reports (9.5 vs. 8.8, p = 0.002), and return to prior job status (0.005). The PA level does not influence pain at one, three and 6 months postoperatively (p = 0.278, p = 0.304 and p = 0.304 respectively). High PA levels increase the risk of axillary web syndrome (p = 0.041), although, it reduces the incidence of chronic pain (p = 0.007). Women who practice physical activity recover better from BC surgery than sedentary women. The higher the intensity and frequency of training, the better the results. Vigorous activity cause axillary web syndrome, despite, it has a beneficial effect on lowering the rate of chronic pain.

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Relationship of fatigue with depressive symptoms and level of physical activity in women with breast cancer diagnosis

Brazilian Journal of Kinanthropometry and Human Performance ◽

10.1590/1980-0037.2020v22e59189 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 ◽

Author(s):

Luciana Beatriz Bosi Mendonça de Moura Matoso ◽

Leonessa Boing ◽

Thainá Korpalski ◽

Mirella Dias ◽

Jéssica Moratelli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Physical Activity ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Clinical Information ◽

Breast Cancer Diagnosis ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Short Version ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Oncology Research ◽

Severe Fatigue

Abstract Breast cancer is the most frequent in women, resulting in fatigue and depressive symptoms as consequence of treatment, but physical activity can help in this process. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between fatigue, depressive symptoms and practice of physical activity of women with breast cancer during treatment or after cancer treatment. This is a cross-sectional study with 179 women (56.89 ± 9.4 years) from the Oncology Research Center - CEPON, using questionnaire on general and clinical information, fatigue (Piper Fatigue Scale) depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory) and physical activity (IPAQ - short version). Women with moderate to severe fatigue underwent physiotherapy (p = 0.001) and women with no fatigue had minimum depressive symptoms (p ?0.001). Level of physical activity was not associated with fatigue, with most women being insufficiently active and women with mild fatigue had longer walking time than those without fatigue (p = 0.049). Women with depressive symptoms were almost three times more likely of having mild to severe fatigue and those who underwent physiotherapy were twice as likely of having mild to severe fatigue. Women with fatigue had greater presence of depressive symptoms. Professionals working in the field of oncology should recommend the practice of physical activity in order to minimize the side effects of treatment and observe depressive symptoms and fatigue in these women.

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Breast Cancer Characterization Based on Image Classification of Tissue Sections Visualized under Low Magnification

Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine ◽

10.1155/2013/829461 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2013 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

C. Loukas ◽

S. Kostopoulos ◽

A. Tanoglidi ◽

D. Glotsos ◽

C. Sfikas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Large Scale ◽

Rapid Assessment ◽

Breast Cancer Diagnosis ◽

Critical Issue ◽

Breast Cancer Tissue ◽

Cancer Tissue ◽

Textural Features ◽

Tissue Sections ◽

Leave One Out

Rapid assessment of tissue biopsies is a critical issue in modern histopathology. For breast cancer diagnosis, the shape of the nuclei and the architectural pattern of the tissue are evaluated under high and low magnifications, respectively. In this study, we focus on the development of a pattern classification system for the assessment of breast cancer images captured under low magnification (×10). Sixty-five regions of interest were selected from 60 images of breast cancer tissue sections. Texture analysis provided 30 textural features per image. Three different pattern recognition algorithms were employed (kNN, SVM, and PNN) for classifying the images into three malignancy grades: I–III. The classifiers were validated with leave-one-out (training) and cross-validation (testing) modes. The average discrimination efficiency of the kNN, SVM, and PNN classifiers in the training mode was close to 97%, 95%, and 97%, respectively, whereas in the test mode, the average classification accuracy achieved was 86%, 85%, and 90%, respectively. Assessment of breast cancer tissue sections could be applied in complex large-scale images using textural features and pattern classifiers. The proposed technique provides several benefits, such as speed of analysis and automation, and could potentially replace the laborious task of visual examination.

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