Weight training improves quality of life (QOL) in breast cancer survivors, according to the results of a randomized trial reported in the March 27 Early View issue of Cancer.

"Aerobic exercise training has been shown to have beneficial effects on QOL in breast cancer survivors," write Tetsuya Ohira, MD, from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and colleagues from the Weight Training for Breast Cancer Survivors (WTBS) Study. "However, the effects of weight training on psychological benefits are unknown.... There is the potential that for breast cancer survivors, weight training might increase a sense of control over their lives during the 'watchful waiting' time frame between the end of active treatment and the 5-year mark post-diagnosis (e.g., psychological empowerment via physical strength increases)."

In the WTBS Study, 86 breast cancer survivors 4 to 36 months' posttreatment were randomized into a treatment group receiving twice-weekly weight training and a control group. The main endpoints were changes in QOL measured by the cancer rehabilitation evaluation system (CARES) short form, and change in depressive symptoms on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression Scale (CES-D) from baseline to month 6.

Compared with the control group, the treatment group had improvements for 6 months in the physical global QOL score (standardized difference, 0.62; P = .006) and in the psychosocial global score (standardized difference, 0.52; P = .02). There were no changes in CES-D scores. Increases in upper body strength were correlated with improvements in physical global score (r = 0.32; P <.01) and in psychosocial global score (r = 0.30; P < .01). Increases in lean mass had similar associations with improvements in physical global score (r = 0.23; P <.05) and in psychosocial global score (r = 0.24; P <.05).

"Twice-weekly weight training for recent breast cancer survivors may result in improved QOL, in part via changes in body composition and strength," the authors write. "The mechanism by which weight training may improve QOL in breast cancer survivors may be a sense of return to feeling in control of their bodies that may translate into feeling greater efficacy in other areas of life."