No abstract

This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector. There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

Women with breast cancer are a growing population due to improved screening and treatment. It has been described that chemotherapy can negatively affect patients’ metabolism. The aim of this study is to assess weight gain during chemotherapy treatment in an interim analysis on an ongoing prospective cohort of women with early breast cancer. To help untangle the many possible reasons for weight change, we examine blood tests, Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs), and bone mineral density (BMD). We find that the 38 women that have measurements taken after chemotherapy have an average weight gain of 1.2 kg although not significant. Together with this, there is a significant drop in HDL cholesterol, an increase in triglycerides, and a non-significant tendency towards decreased insulin sensitivity. PROs show that although the women experience more pain and fatigue, they have higher activity levels. BMD is at an expected level according to age. All in all, we see an increased focus on physical activity and nutrition, leading to less severe metabolic changes as previously reported. However, even though more measures are taken, we still see an overall negative metabolic impact with unknown long-term implications.

IntroductionBreast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women worldwide. With increasing survival rates, focus has expanded to long‐term adverse effects of adjuvant chemotherapy and/or aromatase inhibitors. Weight gain during chemotherapy has been well documented, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. A change in glucose and insulin metabolism is a possible consequence.MethodsWe searched PubMed on the 4th of May 2018, and found eight articles that compared measurements of glucose and insulin before and after chemotherapy and/or aromatase inhibitors in woman with BC.ResultsA general trend of increased glucose and insulin is seen and likely to be caused by weight gain and/or changes in body composition as a consequence of adjuvant treatment of BC.DiscussionDue to methodological limitations including short follow‐up times and small sample sizes, further studies are required to better describe metabolic consequences of adjuvant chemotherapy and/or aromatase inhibitors. Future studies could help identify patients in high‐risk of developing cardiometabolic disease after BC treatment.

Compared to traditional CSF-markers, CSF lactate is more accurate to distinguish between ABM and AME.