Circuit resistance training and cardiovascular health in breast cancer survivors

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in breast cancer survivors. While evidence shows circuit resistance training (CRT) is effective for improving muscle and cardiorespiratory fitness, whether CRT is an efficacious therapy for decreasing cardiovascular risk in cancer survivors is unclear.

Fifty-one breast cancer survivors were recruited to either 12 weeks CRT (n = 26), or a non-exercising wait-list control (n = 25). Two supervised 60 min CRT sessions per week were undertaken, comprising resistance and functional exercises, and aerobic exercise stations. Primary outcome measure was the gold-standard assessment of arterial stiffness, aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV). Secondary outcomes included: cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), upper and lower body strength, arterial wave reflections, central blood pressure and rate pressure product.

Compared to the control group, the CRT group had a statistically significant medium effect decrease in PWV 0.9 m/s (95% CI: 0.1, 1.7). There were large effect improvements in VO₂ max (4.3 ml kg^-1  min^-1 , 95% CI: 5.8, 2.8), upper and lower body strength (3.7 kg, 95% CI: 1.9, 5.6 and 10.4 kg, 1.6, 19.1) respectively.

Findings support the existing literature demonstrating that 12 weeks CRT improves muscle and cardiorespiratory fitness and is also an effective strategy for decreasing a proven cardiovascular risk factor in breast cancer survivors.