Abstract
Physical activity (PA) helps prevention and aftercare of sporadic breast cancer (BC), cardiopulmonary fitness (CPF) being an age-independent predictor of tumor-specific mortality. Therefore, we wanted to identify predictors of CPF (represented by peak oxygen uptake: VO2peak) in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers whose risk of developing BC is high. We used cross-sectional data from 68 BRCA1/2 germline mutation carrying women participating in the randomized, prospective, controlled clinical study LIBRE-1. Assessments included cardiopulmonary exercise testing, medical and lifestyle history plus socioeconomic status. Additionally, the participants completed a psychological questionnaire regarding their attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control and intention towards PA. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to identify predictors for participants reaching their age- and sex-adjusted VO2peak reference values. 22 participants (median age: 40 years, interquartile range (IQR) 33–46) were cancer-unaffected and 46 cancer-affected (median age: 44 years, IQR 35–50). The strongest predictor for reaching the reference VO2peak value was attitude towards PA (Odds Ratio 3.0; 95% Confidence Interval 1.3–8.4; p = 0.021). None of the other predictors showed a significant association. A positive attitude towards PA seems to be associated with VO2peak, which should be considered in developing therapeutic and preventive strategies.Trial registrations: NCT02087592; DRKS00005736.
Highlights
Physical activity (PA) helps prevention and aftercare of sporadic breast cancer (BC), cardiopulmonary fitness (CPF) being an age-independent predictor of tumor-specific mortality
The intention scores showed a trend for higher chances of reaching the VO2peak reference values, whereas perceived behavior control and subjective norms scores showed the opposite tendency
A positive attitude towards physical activity was the only significant predictor found in our analysis for reaching the participant’s V O2peak reference value
Summary
Physical activity (PA) helps prevention and aftercare of sporadic breast cancer (BC), cardiopulmonary fitness (CPF) being an age-independent predictor of tumor-specific mortality. We wanted to identify predictors of CPF (represented by peak oxygen uptake: VO2peak) in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers whose risk of developing BC is high. Studies indicate that the high risk of cancer in BRCA1/2 germline mutation carriers may be mitigated by physical activity, especially during adolescence and early a dulthood[8,9]. Longitudinal case–control study of 886 BRCA1/2 mutation carriers, Lammert et al (2018) showed that women moderately active between the ages of 12–17 years had a 38% lower risk of developing premenopausal breast cancer compared to less active w omen[10]. A further retrospective cohort study (725 BRCA1/2 mutation carriers) reported a 42% risk reduction for developing breast cancer among participants with increasing levels of sports activity prior to, but not after, age 3011
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