Trial reportCancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology2010
Mammographic density change with 1 year of aerobic exercise among postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dietary Patterns, Dietary Interventions, and Mammographic Breast Density: A Systematic Literature Review.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- Relationship Between Breast Density and Selective Estrogen-Receptor Modulators, Aromatase Inhibitors, Physical Activity, and Diet: A Systematic Review.Integrative cancer therapies · 2016Pooled it
- Physical activity and mammographic breast density: a systematic review.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2012Pooled it
- A Co-clinical Trial of Exercise Therapy in Breast Cancer Prevention.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2025Trial
- Exercise therapy in cancer prevention and treatment.Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2026Review
- WHO-recommended levels of physical activity in relation to mammographic breast density, mammographic tumor appearance, and mode of detection of breast cancer.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2024Article
- Physical Activity and Mammographic Density in Japanese Women.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2024Article
- Obesity and Breast Cancer Risk: The Oncogenic Implications of Metabolic Dysregulation.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2022Article
- Association Between Lifestyle Changes, Mammographic Breast Density, and Breast Cancer.The oncologist · 2022Review
- The Relationship between Body Mass Index and Mammographic Density during a Premenopausal Weight Loss Intervention Study.Cancers · 2021Article
- Hormonal determinants of mammographic density and density change.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2020Article
- Development of Exercise as Interception Therapy for Cancer: A Review.JAMA oncology · 2019Article
- Mammographic density: intersection of advocacy, science, and clinical practice.Current breast cancer reports · 2019Article
- Regular physical activity and mammographic density: a cohort study.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2018Article
- Mammographic density changes in surgical weight loss-an indication for personalized screening.BMC medical imaging · 2018Article
- The Short-Term Effect of Weight Loss Surgery on Volumetric Breast Density and Fibroglandular Volume.Obesity surgery · 2017Article
- Association between breast cancer, breast density, and body adiposity evaluated by MRI.European radiology · 2016Article
- The effect of weight change on changes in breast density measures over menopause in a breast cancer screening cohort.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2015Article
- Background risk of breast cancer and the association between physical activity and mammographic density.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2015Article
- Methods for assessing and representing mammographic density: an analysis of 4 case-control studies.American journal of epidemiology · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors at 11 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe Alberta Physical Activity and Breast Cancer Prevention (ALPHA) Trial examined the influence of aerobic exercise on biological factors that are associated with breast cancer risk. Mammographic density, a secondary outcome, is reported here.
methodsThe ALPHA Trial was a parallel group randomized controlled trial conducted between May 2003 and July 2007. Postmenopausal, sedentary women ages 50 to 74 years (n = 320) were evenly randomized to aerobic exercise (45 minutes, 5 days per week) or control (usual life-style) for 1 year. Dense fibroglandular tissue and nondense fatty tissue were measured from mammograms at baseline and 1 year using computer-assisted thresholding software for area measurements and a new technique that relies on the calibration of mammography units with a tissue-equivalent phantom for volumetric measurements.
resultsNondense volume decreased in the exercise group relative to the control group (difference between groups = -38.5 cm(3); 95% confidence interval, -61.6 to 15.4; P = 0.001). Changes in total body fat accounted for this decrease. Changes in dense area and dense volume, measures that have previously been associated with breast cancer risk, were not significantly different between the groups (P > or = 0.26).
conclusionsAchieving changes in mammographic measures may require more exercise or a study population with higher baseline levels of sex hormones or a wider range of mammographic density. The data from this study, however, suggest that the protective effect of exercise on breast cancer risk may operate through a mechanism other than mammographic density.
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