- A recent trial led by researchers in the Netherlands examined whether exercise has benefits in people with metastatic breast cancer.
- Metastatic breast cancer begins as breast cancer but spreads to other areas of the body.
- Since metastatic breast cancer and treatments for it cause a number of side effects, researchers are exploring how to improve patients’ quality of life.
- By the end of the 9-month trial, people with metastatic breast cancer who followed a regular exercise regimen experienced reduced fatigue and pain.
Researchers from Europe and Australia collaborated to carry out the PREFERABLE-EFFECT trial, which focused on the potential benefits of exercise in people with metastatic breast cancer.
Since metastatic breast cancer often causes a reduction in a person’s quality of life, the researchers wanted to see to what degree a regular exercise regimen could improve symptoms.
The researchers recruited more than 300 participants for the trial and divided them into exercise and control groups.
The study’s principal investigator, Prof. Anne May, PhD, of the University Medical Center Utrecht Julius Center in the Netherlands, will present the findings at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The research findings have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
The scientists recruited the participants from various medical institutions in countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, and Spain.
The trial enrolled 357 participants with metastatic breast cancer, and according to Prof. May, they only included participants with a life expectancy of at least 6months.
The scientists excluded people who had uncontrolled severe pain, currently participated in an intense exercise program, or had “unstable bone metastases.”
The researchers divided the women into two groups: the exercise and control groups. The people in the exercise group participated in an exercise program twice per week.
Prof. May told Medical News Today the exercise program had…
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