In January 2018 researchers from the UK published their review of the scientific literature to assess the effect of physical activity in women with breast cancer who have undergone treatment. A total of 63 studies were included in the review and involved 5,761 individuals. The duration of the period studied ranged from 4-24 month, with most lasting 8 or 12 weeks. Twenty-eight studies involved aerobic exercise, 21 aerobic exercise and resistance training, and seven resistance training. All selected studies had assessed the resultant effects following physical activity and compared them with the effects following no physical activity. Results showed that physical activity may have small-to-moderate beneficial effects on health-related quality of life, on emotional wellbeing, perceived physical and social functioning, anxiety and cardiorespiratory fitness. However, the studies were considered to be of low-to-moderate quality therefore this review should be interpreted cautiously.
Lahart IM et al. Physical activity for women with breast cancer after adjuvant therapy. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018 Jan 29;1:CD011292.