Physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness, and cognitive function in postmenopausal women with breast cancer.

Physical activity may improve cognitive function in women with breast cancer. In a cross-sectional study, we explored the relationship between cognitive function and physical activity (actigraph) and cardiorespiratory fitness (sub-maximal graded exercise test) in 73 postmenopausal women with early stage breast cancer prior to the initiation of systemic adjuvant therapy. Cognitive function was assessed with a standardized battery of neurocognitive measures assessing eight domains.

Trajectories of Cognitive Function and Associated Phenotypic and Genotypic Factors in Breast Cancer.

Objectives: This study identified women with unique trajectories of executive function, concentration, and visual working memory before and during adjuvant therapy for breast cancer, and examined phenotypic and genotypic predictors associated with subgroups.

Sample & Setting: 399 postmenopausal women, of whom 288 were women with early-stage breast cancer and 111 were women without breast cancer, matched on age and years of education to the women with breast cancer, and all at an urban cancer center.

Methods & Variables: A repeated-measures design was used; assessments occurred before adjuvant therapy and every six months post-therapy initiation.

Protocol for Exercise Program in Cancer and Cognition (EPICC): A randomized controlled trial of the effects of aerobic exercise on cognitive function in postmenopausal women with breast cancer receiving aromatase inhibitor therapy.

Unlabelled: The Exercise Program in Cancer and Cognition (EPICC) Study is a randomized controlled trial designed to test the effects of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on cognitive function in postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer during the first six months of aromatase inhibitor therapy. It is estimated that up to 75% of survivors of breast cancer experience cognitive impairment related to disease and treatment. At present, there are no known interventions to improve or manage cognitive function for women with breast cancer.

Patterns of change in cognitive function with anastrozole therapy.

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the effects of the first 18 months of anastrozole therapy on cognitive function in women with breast cancer.

Methods: This large, longitudinal cohort study was composed of postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancer who received chemotherapy plus anastrozole (n = 114) or anastrozole alone (n = 173) and a control group (n = 110). Cognitive function was assessed before systemic therapy and 6, 12, and 18 months after therapy initiation and at comparable time points in controls.

Influence of patient and treatment factors on adherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy in breast cancer.

Purpose/objectives: To comprehensively assess the patient and illness or treatment factors that may predict nonadherence to adjuvant endocrine therapy and to explore whether an interaction occurs between these factors in women with breast cancer.

Design: Repeated-measures design.

Setting: The Outpatient Services of the Women's Cancer Program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and participants' homes.

What do perceived cognitive problems reflect?

Women with breast cancer frequently report cognitive problems to healthcare providers during and after adjuvant therapy. Patients' perceptions of their cognitive problems would be expected to relate to objectively measured cognitive impairments. We explored the relationship between perceived cognitive function and objective ratings of thinking ability in early-stage breast cancer patients receiving hormonal therapy.

Memory impairments with adjuvant anastrozole versus tamoxifen in women with early-stage breast cancer.

Objective: Hormones have been implicated as modulators of cognitive functioning. For instance, results of our previous work in women with breast cancer showed that cognitive impairment was more severe and involved more memory domains in those who received adjuvant tamoxifen therapy compared with women who received chemotherapy alone or no adjuvant therapy. Recently aromatase inhibitors such as anastrozole have been used in lieu of tamoxifen for the adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive, early-stage breast cancer.