Effect of a 12-week walking exercise program on body composition and immune cell count in patients with breast cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a 12-week walking exercise program on body composition and immune cell count in patients with breast cancer who are undergoing chemotherapy. METHODS: Twenty patients (age, 47.8 ± 3.12) participated in the study. Body composition (weight, body mass index, muscle weight, body fat mass, and percent body fat) and the cell counts for immune cells (white blood corpuscles, lymphocytes, helper T cells, cytotoxic T cells, natural killer cells, and natural killer T cells) were measured before and after the 12-week walking exercise program. SPSS 17.0 statistical software was used. The two-way repeated ANOVA with post hoc was used to determine the difference between time and interaction. RESULTS: There were significant reductions in the weight (p < .05), BMI (p < .01), and percent body fat (p < .05) after the 12-week walking exercise program. However, the immune cell counts did not change significantly. CONCLUSION: These results indicated that the 12-week walking exercise program had an effect on the balances among weight, BMI and percent body fat in patients with breast cancer.