Antropometric Profile and Nutritional Knowledge of Women who Survived Breast Cancer in the South of Brazil

Abstract

The importance of a diet in the control of breast cancer is quite recognized. The purpose of this study was to verify the prevalence of overweight and obesity as well as the nutritional knowledge of women who survived breast cancer. The sample was composed of 175 women, 105 from the capital and 70 from the countryside, who survived breast cancer and are under follow-up control in two public federal hospitals in Rio Grande do Sul. However, the results allowed the sample (p>0.05) to be unified. The adult women (≤ 59 years old), were overweight and obese in 57.13% of the cases, and the elderly (≥ 60 years old) were overweight in 63.4%. Most of them (71.43%) gained weight after the diagnosis, 6.46 Kg (± 4.9) in average. Their nutritional knowledge was moderate (61.7%) and there was no difference as to the nutritional knowledge between the women who have received nutritional orientation and those who have not received it (p=0.276). The sample showed prevalence of overweight/obesity in women who survived breast cancer and an expressive weight gain after the diagnosis, even in women who had received nutritional information. After multivariate linear regression, it was verified that their nutritional knowledge was associated only with their education level (p=0.00) and not with their body mass index (p=0.85). In conclusion, an individual and effective nutritional approach to improve life style has not been carried out yet  despite scientific evidence that these actions would lessen the risk of either breast cancer recurrence or second primary tumor.