Korean J Community Nutr.  2016 Dec;21(6):533-544. 10.5720/kjcn.2016.21.6.533.

Dietary Changes After Breast Cancer Diagnosis: Associations with Physical Activity, Anthropometry, and Health-related Quality of life Among Korean Breast Cancer Survivors

• Song S
• Youn HJ
• Jung SY
• Lee E
• Kim Z
• Cho J
• Yoo YB
• Moon HG
• Noh DY
• Lee JE

• KMID: 2366738
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2016.21.6.533

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
We aimed to examine levels of physical activity, anthropometric features, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among Korean breast cancer survivors who reported changes in their diet after diagnosis.
METHODS
A total of 380 women who had been diagnosed with stage I to III breast cancer and had breast cancer surgery at least six months before the interview were included. Participants provided information on dietary change after diagnosis, post-diagnostic diet, physical activity, anthropometric measures, and HRQoL through face-to-face interview. We assessed HRQoL levels of breast cancer survivors using a validated Korean version of European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and Breast Cancer Module (BR23). We used the logistic regression and generalized linear models to identify the associations of dietary changes in relation with physical activity, anthropometry, and HRQoL.
RESULTS
The majority of participants (72.6%) reported that they have changed their diet to a healthier diet after diagnosis. Breast cancer survivors who reported to have change to a healthy diet had higher intakes of vegetables and fruits and lower intakes of red and processed meats, and refined grains than those who did not. Also, survivors with a healthy change in their diet were more likely to engage in physical activity (top vs. bottom tertile: odds ratio [OR], 1.85; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.02-3.36) and have lower body mass index (BMI) (OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.82-0.98 for one kg/m² increment in BMI) compared to those who did not. We found that a healthy change in diet was associated with higher scores of physical functioning (p=0.02) and lower scores of constipation (p=0.04) and diarrhea (p=0.006) compared to those who did not.
CONCLUSIONS
Healthy changes in diet after breast cancer diagnosis may be associated with lower levels of BMI, and higher levels of physical activity and HRQoL.

Keyword

breast cancer survivors; dietary change; physical activity; anthropometric features; health-related quality of life

MeSH Terms

Anthropometry*
Body Mass Index
Breast Neoplasms*
Breast*
Constipation
Diagnosis*
Diarrhea
Diet
Female
Fruit
Humans
Linear Models
Logistic Models
Meat
Motor Activity*
Odds Ratio
Quality of Life*
Survivors*
Vegetables

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