Efficacy Of A One-Year Exercise Program To Prevent Bone Loss In Postmenopausal Women Prescribed Aromatase Inhibitor Therapy: An Rct.

e20533 Background: The aim of this single blinded RCT was to determine the effect of exercise on bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women prescribed an aromatase inhibitor (AI) for the treatment of breast cancer. Methods: 66 sedentary, postmenopausal women, median age of 54.5 years, with early breast cancer and receiving an aromatase inhibitor participated. Women were stratified for taking tamoxifen prior to AI, and randomised to either the exercise (n = 27) or control (n = 39) group. All participants received daily vitamin D (1000 IU) and calcium carbonate (1200 mg) supplements and a booklet from Osteoporosis Australia outlining the benefits of exercise in preventing osteoporosis. The exercise group attended a gym three times per week for one year, supervised at regular intervals by a personal trainer, and were contacted weekly regarding progress and progression. Training sessions comprised warm-up, impact training, and resistance training. The control group was contacted monthly to monitor health status and to receive their supply of vitamins. The primary outcome was total hip BMD measured with a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometer. The secondary outcomes included trochanteric, femoral neck, lumbar spine and whole body BMD and t-scores. Results: Intention-to-treat analysis revealed that the change in BMD was not significantly different between groups. At baseline, the mean (SD) total hip BMD in the control group was 0.892 (0.115) g/cm 2 and 0.878 (0.112) g/cm 2 at 1 yr. In contrast, hip BMD in the Exercise group was 0.918 (0.119) g/cm 2 at baseline and 0.910 (0.113) g/cm 2 at 1 yr. The mean (SD) change for both groups was <1%. The mean T-score of the hip for Controls at baseline was -0.42 (0.94) and -0.53 (0.91) at 1 year. The baseline T-score for the Exercise group was -0.20 (0.95) and -0.26 (0.93) at one year. The average compliance with attendance for the exercise group was 71% but ranged from 20 to 100%. Compliance with vitamins for both groups was high. Conclusions: A one year exercise program did not provide additional benefit to bone density in women on AIs compared to receipt of calcium and vitamin D and advice to exercise. Clinical trial information: (ACTRN12608000220369).