Exercise for secondary prevention of breast cancer: moving from evidence to changing clinical practice

Abstract

Relating to the report of Irwin and colleagues in this issue of the journal (beginning on page 522), this perspective discusses exercise training interventions as secondary prevention in breast cancer survivors. Burgeoning observational evidence indicates that prescribing aerobic exercise of 3 hours or more per week could have meaningful mortality and morbidity benefits for breast cancer survivors. Adherence to this exercise prescription, however, will require an infrastructure to guide survivors and to address the common clinical treatment sequelae that might interfere with survivors' ability to regularly perform this level of activity (e.g., symptoms related to estrogen deprivation, arthralgias due to aromatase inhibitors, fatigue, lymphedema, chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, osteoporosis, upper-extremity functional impairments, and overall functional decline). On the basis of cardiac rehabilitation, a model is proposed to integrate exercise prescription into breast cancer survivor clinical care, with referral to community-based programs for most women.