| This study examined breast cancer-associated weight gain in a sample of premenopausal, Stage I and II breast cancer subjects receiving adjuvant chemotherapy at two clinics in central-western Ontario. With the shortening of adjuvant chemotherapy regimens, it was suspected that the magnitude of this commonly reported problem had changed over time. Furthermore, although premenopausal women were reported to gain the most weight, they had been under-studied in prior research. Brown's Conceptual Framework for Cancer Related Weight Change (1993) provided the direction for this study.; The research questions were: (1) What is the rate and magnitude of breast cancer-associated weight change? (2) Are patterns of weight and body composition change evident? (3) What are the changes in dietary intake, physical activity (PA), resting energy expenditure (REE), menopausal symptoms, and nicotine intakes of subjects who gain, maintain or lose weight? (4) How much of the weight change in this sample is related to dietary intake, PA, REE, menopausal symptoms, and nicotine intake?; An inception cohort of 91 subjects was used in this correlational, longitudinal study, and 76 women accurately completed their measures. Data were collected pre-treatment, at every-other cycle of treatment and the end of treatment. Dietary intake was estimated by the 1998 Health Habits and History Questionnaire (Block et al., 1986); PA by the Stanford Five City Project Questionnaire (Sallis et al., 1985); body composition by bioelectrical impedance analysis; REE by a standard prediction equation; menopausal symptoms by a Menstrual Status Questionnaire (Cooper & Baird, 1995); nicotine intake by self-report, and height-adjusted weight by body mass index. Analyses included descriptive statistics for the sociodemographic and clinical data and the independent and dependent variables. For women who gained and lost weight, descriptive statistics for weight and body composition at each measurement point were examined to identify patterns. Finally, individual regression slopes were computed for each variable over time and entered into final regression analyses. Results of the study have helped to update the description of breast cancer-associated weight gain and identify its associations with the components of energy balance. They will lay the groundwork for identifying women at risk and targeting weight control interventions to those who are most in need. |
