Impact of Exercise on Sexual Health in Women With mBC

Women with metastatic breast cancer (mBC) often face side effects related to both the disease and its treatment, which can significantly hinder their daily activities. Current evidence regarding the impact of exercise on underexplored issues like sexual health and body image in this patient population remains insufficient, particularly for those with advanced stages of the disease.

Martina E. Schmidt and the team aimed to evaluate the effects of a structured exercise intervention on sexual health and breast cancer-specific symptoms in women with mBC.

They performed an inclusive analysis involving 355 women (and 2 men) with metastatic breast cancer from 5 European countries and Australia. Participants were randomly assigned to either usual care or a 9-month supervised exercise program combining aerobic, resistance, and balance exercises. All patients received general exercise advice and an activity tracker.

Breast cancer-specific symptoms were assessed using the EORTC QLQ-BR45 at baseline, 3, 6 (primary timepoint), and 9 months. Intervention effects were analyzed on an intent-to-treat basis using mixed models for repeated measures, adjusted for baseline values of the outcome variable and stratification factors, including line of treatment and study center.

The mean ± SD age was 55.4 ± 11.1 years for the female participants, with most receiving 1st or 2nd-line treatment at study enrollment (74.8%) and having bone metastases (67.5%). At baseline, sexual functioning (17.1 ± 21.2) was notably low, correlating with older age and depressive symptoms.

Nearly half of sexually active women reported limited sexual enjoyment, 26% of all participants experienced moderate-to-severe endocrine sexual symptoms, and 24% reported a poor body image. The exercise intervention resulted in improved sexual functioning (effect size (ES) = 0.28, P = 0.0031) and reduced endocrine sexual symptoms (ES = 0.25, P = 0.0026) at the 6-month mark. The positive effect on sexual functioning was maintained at 9 months (ES = 0.23, P = 0.020).

The study concluded that women with metastatic breast cancer often face sexual problems and body image issues, but structured exercise can enhance sexual health in this population. Further research is needed to explore the optimal role of exercise in alleviating symptom burden, potentially in combination with additional support.

The trial was sponsored by the UMC Utrecht.

Source: https://cslide.ctimeetingtech.com/breast24hybrid/attendee/confcal/show/session/16

Clinical Trial: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04120298

Schmidt M.E, Hiensch A, Depenbusch J, et al. (2024). “The effects of exercise on sexual health and breast cancer-specific symptom burden in women with metastatic breast cancer: Results of the multinational randomized PREFERABLE-EFFECT trial (ID 162).” Presented at ESMO 2024 (Abstract 269MO).