Meeting guidelines and promoting health: Physical activity patterns among breast cancer survivors

Spit for the Cure is a Southern population-based breast cancer cohort, comprising more than 14,000 participants, including 1,515 breast cancer survivors. Upon enrollment, each participant completes an initial survey documenting selected demographic, lifestyle, family history and known factors affecting breast cancer risk. Several questions gather information on participants' physical activity behaviors. There is recent evidence that regular physical activity may decrease the likelihood of recurrence and increase quality of life among breast cancer survivors. Just under half (49.4%) of breast cancer survivors in our cohort meet current CDC recommendations for minimum levels of physical activity, and this group was significantly less likely to meet recommendations compared to women who have never had breast cancer (p=.0003). Survivors who are older, those who are African American, those with greater BMI, and those who have experienced a recurrence of cancer are even less likely to meet the recommendations. This presentation will look at factors contributing to lower guideline adherence and examine these trends in light of research-based recommendations for cancer prevention.