Edinburgh Napier University

  Introduction
Epidemiological studies suggest that moderate intensity recreational physical activity (PA) improves breast cancer survival. We aimed to assess the current levels of PA in breast cancer survivors and a cohort of women with benign disease attending clinics in Glasgow.
Materials and Methods
Patients at breast clinics at the GRI and WIG were recruited over a 5 week period. Data on physical activity levels (occupational, household, recreational) over the 7 days were recorded using the International Physical Activity Questionaire (IPAQ).
Results
A total of 352 patients were recruited with 141 (40.1%) of the patients completing the questionnaire successfully (table 1).Recreational PA appears to be the major influence on breast cancer survival (1) and the reported MET-hr/week for each cohort are shown in table 2.
Discussion
Scottish guidelines (2) suggest 30min of moderate exercise most days a week is beneficial (>10MET-hr/week) but over 60% of our patients were not achieving this. A recreational PA level of >5MET/hr/week has been demonstrated to confer a benefit on breast survival (1). However 50% of our breast cancer survivors are not meeting this relatively modest target (equivalent to 1hr15min moderate activity/week). With the planned implementation of an exercise programme for all newly diagnosed breast cancer patients in Glasgow, we hope to improve levels of recreational physical activity and will re-audit following its introduction.