Improving Functional Capacity And Strengthin Breast Cancer Women And The Correlation With Mortality

Cancer (CA) has been affecting more and more people around the world. Among the different types of cancer, breast cancer is the one with the highest incidence worldwide, especially in women over 50 years of age. According to the National Cancer Institute (INCA), the estimated number of new cases of breast cancer in Brazil for the period from 2023 to 2025 is 73,610 cases. One of the most evidenced causes in the literature for the rising of breast cancer is poor lifestyle habits, with sedentary lifestyle and obesity as the main factors. On the other hand, regular physical exercise (PE) has been shown to improve overall health and reduce mortality in individuals affected by breast cancer. However, little is known about the dose/benefit, such as how long exercise is necessary to observe this benefit and whether this protection increases with longer exercise practice. PURPOSE: The objective of the present study was to analyze the effect of 36 weeks of resistance training (RT) on parameters indirectly related to mortality in patients with breast cancer. METHODS: 32 women (48.4 ± 8 years old) diagnosed with breast cancer and members of the Maple Tree Cancer Alliance Brazil were selected. Among the participants, 16 performed RT for 36 weeks, and the other 16 were part of the control group, not practicing physical exercise (SED). The physical tests included assessments of the upper and lower limbs' functional capacity, strength, and muscular endurance. RESULTS: The main results were a significant increase in the strength of lower limbs mainly after the first 12 weeks, while the Timed Up and Go (TUG) showed a significant improvement after the first 12 weeks and an even greater significance at the end of the 36th week. CONCLUSION: Thus, we conclude that the 12-week practice of RT resulted in a significant improvement, both acute and chronic, in the functional capacity of the sample, and considering that TUG is related to lower mortality from any cause in women with breast cancer, we encourage the recommendation of RT from the initial phase of the oncology rehabilitation program.