Women are more likely to gain weight following breast cancer diagnosis, a study revealed, as chemotherapy is believed to play a significant factor.
The study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention reported that women are twice likely to gain at least 5 kg within five years after chemotherapy compared to those who are cancer free. Likewise, a non-hormone sensitive aggressive cancer is strongly linked to weight gain.
"Our study showed that women diagnosed with breast cancer and those who received chemotherapy to treat their breast cancer gained more weight within the first five years of diagnosis and treatment than cancer-free women," Dr. Kala Visvanathan, the study's lead researcher from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, said.
Visvanathan explained that the increase in weight could predict whether or not an individual is susceptible to other chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.
"Most breast cancer patients -- and I think people forget this -- actually do not die of breast cancer but die of other diseases. So, it's important to monitor those things as well," she said in an interview with CBS News.
The study was participated by 303 breast cancer survivors and 307 cancer-free women. Those who were diagnosed with breast cancer within the five-year time span following the start of the investigation gained an average 1.7 kg more than those who were cancer-free, while those who were diagnosed with non-hormone sensitive invasive cancer gained an average 3.3 kg. Twenty percent of those who underwent chemotherapy gained at least 5kg. Those who were diagnosed more than five years earlier or received hormone therapy did not manifest any weight gain.
It is still puzzling how chemotherapy is linked to weight gain in breast cancer patients. Some experts believed that the treatment causes the metabolism to slow down given that cancer patients tend to be less physically active.
