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Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
Published in: Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 1/2017

Open Access 01-12-2017 | Research

The association between physical activity and health-related quality of life among breast cancer survivors

Authors: Woo-kyoung Shin, Sihan Song, So-Youn Jung, Eunsook Lee, Zisun Kim, Hyeong-Gon Moon, Dong-Young Noh, Jung Eun Lee

Published in: Health and Quality of Life Outcomes | Issue 1/2017

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Abstract

Background

The quality of life for breast cancer survivors has become increasingly important because of their high survival rate and prolonged life expectancy. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of physical activity following diagnosis and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in breast cancer survivors.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study of breast cancer survivors. A total of 231 women aged 21–78 years who had been diagnosed with stages I to III breast cancer and had breast cancer surgery at least 6 months prior were recruited from three hospitals between September 2012 and April 2015 and were included in this study. We asked participants about their HRQOL and engagement in physical activity using structured questionnaires. We examined the association between HRQOL levels and physical activity using a generalized linear model.

Results

Breast cancer survivors in the high physical activity group (3rd tertile) were more likely to have lower scores for fatigue (p for trend = 0.001) and pain (p for trend = 0.02) and higher scores for sexual function (p for trend = 0.007) than those in the low physical activity group (1st tertile). When we stratified participants by stage, we found increasing scores for physical functioning (p for trend =0.01) and decreasing scores for fatigue (p for trend = 0.02) with increasing levels of physical activity in breast cancer survivors with stage I breast cancer. In survivors with stages II and III, we found statistically significant associations with fatigue (p for trend = 0.02) and sexual functioning (p for trend = 0.001).

Conclusions

In conclusion, engagement in physical activity was related to better health-related quality of life among breast cancer survivors. Our findings may warrant further prospective and intervention studies to support the benefit of physical activity in improving the quality of life and survival of Korean breast cancer survivors.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
The association between physical activity and health-related quality of life among breast cancer survivors
Authors
Woo-kyoung Shin
Sihan Song
So-Youn Jung
Eunsook Lee
Zisun Kim
Hyeong-Gon Moon
Dong-Young Noh
Jung Eun Lee
Publication date
01-12-2017
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes / Issue 1/2017
Electronic ISSN: 1477-7525
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-017-0706-9

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