SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Exercise Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1579649
Effects of Exercise Interventions on Breast Cancer-Related Endogenous Hormones in Premenopausal and Postmenopausal Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, China
- 2Chongqing University of Education, Chongqing, Chongqing, China
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Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor among women, and its etiology and progression are closely associated with hormone levels. Hormone levels undergo significant changes in pre-and postmenopausal women. Exercise intervention, as a safe and effective lifestyle intervention, may modulate hormone levels and affect the incidence and prognosis of breast cancer.Methods: Three databases were searched to identify relevant literature for this study, which included 11 studies in the meta-analysis. The impact of an exercise intervention on breast cancer-related hormones was evaluated, including estrone, estradiol, free estradiol, testosterone, SHBG, 2-OH E1, 16a-OH E1, androstenedione, testosterone, and free testosterone, in both pre-and postmenopausal women.Results: The study findings suggest that the impact of exercise intervention on breast cancer-related hormones in pre-and postmenopausal women may not be significant. This lack of significance could be linked to differences in exercise intervention protocols, study quality, changes in body fat percentage post-exercise, and the specific characteristics of the populations (pre-and postmenopausal) analyzed in the studies. However, subgroup analyses suggested that exercise intervention might have a significant effect on certain estrogens in postmenopausal women and women who engaged in exercise for more than 6 months.Conclusions: The impact of exercise intervention on hormone levels may be influenced by body fat and menopausal status, as well as the duration of follow-up. Further high-quality and standardized studies are needed to confirm and enhance the findings of this research.
Keywords: Exercise Intervention, breast cancer, sex hormones, Postmenopausal, Meta-analysis
Received: 03 Mar 2025; Accepted: 03 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 He and YU. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaomei YU, Chongqing University of Education, Chongqing, 400065, Chongqing, China
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