Does Surviving Breast Cancer Lead to Obesity?

We have long recognised obesity as significant risk factor for post-menopausal breast cancer  but emerging data suggests that surviving cancer may in itself promote weight gain.

Thus, a study by Rebecca Sedjo and colleagues, in a paper published in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship, notes significant weight gain in 665 overweight and obese women within five years of surviving breast cancer.

The average weight gain over five years was 4.5% with almost half the participants gaining significantly more weight.

Younger women and those with lower BMIs were more likely to gain significant amounts of weight over time.

Pharmacological treatment was also an important predictor of weight gain, with women treated with selective estrogen-receptor modulators twice as likely to gain weight compared to women prescribed aromatase inhibitors.

Clearly, post-diagnosis weight gain is common in breast cancer survivors and is influenced by a complex set of factors including age, ethnicity, weight, smoking status, time elapsed since diagnosis, and endocrine-modulating therapy.

It appears that exploration of effective strategies to prevent this weight gain or provide obesity management strategies to breast cancer survivors are long overdue.

@DrSharma
Edmonton, AB