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Breast cancer + poor health = poor outcome

SAN DIEGO, April 6 (UPI) -- Women with breast cancer and overall poor physical health have a higher risk of death and cancer recurrence, U.S. researchers said.

John P. Pierce of the University of California, San Diego's Moores Cancer Center and colleagues used data from three of the four cohorts included in the After Breast Cancer Pooling Project. Physical health scores were measured for 9,387 early stage breast cancer survivors, using the SF-36, a multipurpose health survey taken after diagnosis, with follow-up occurring on average seven years later.

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The study found breast cancer survivors who had poor health scores were 27 percent more likely to experience either a recurrence of their cancer or a new breast cancer.

The researchers also found the risk of death from any cause was 65 percent higher in those with poorer health scores.

"Here we see a single metric that predicts risk," Pierce says in a statement. "Variables cluster together and are summarized in the physical health score. The question becomes how to improve the physical health status of this particular group of breast cancer survivors."

About half the women had poor physical health. Low physical health scores were strongly associated with a higher body mass index, less physically activity, sleep difficulties, high blood pressure, diabetes and arthritis, Pierce said.

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The findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 102nd annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.

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