Association between estimated cardiorespiratory fitness and breast cancer: a prospective cohort study

To examine the association between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

This study used data from 17 840 cancer-free postmenopausal women with a CRF assessment from the UK Biobank. High estimated CRF (eCRF) was categorised as being >80th percentile within 10-year age bands. Fine and Gray regression was used to examine the association between eCRF and breast cancer risk, accounting for both non-breast cancer diagnoses and all-cause mortality as competing risks. Age was used as the time scale. Several different models were produced, including those adjusting for known breast cancer risk factors, and stratified by measures of body fat (body mass index and per cent body fat).

Over a median follow-up of 11.0 years there were 529 cases of invasive breast cancer, 1623 cases of non-breast cancer disease and 241 deaths. With adjustment for breast cancer risk factors, high eCRF was associated with a 24% (subdistribution HR (SDHR) 0.76, 95% CI 0.60 to 0.97) lower risk of breast cancer. When stratified by measures of body fat, we found evidence of effect measure modification. Mainly, having high eCRF was only associated with a lower risk of breast cancer among those classified as having overweight/obesity (SDHR 0.33, 95% CI 0.11 to 1.01) or percentage body fat above the 1st quintile (SDHR 0.65, 95% CI 0.45 to 0.94).

Having higher CRF may be a protective factor against breast cancer in postmenopausal women but only for women with elevated body fat.