Dados do Trabalho

Título

THE IMPACT OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ON BODY COMPOSITION AND SOMATOTYPE OF ONCOLOGICAL PATIENTS UNDERGOING RADIOTHERAPY TREATMENT

Introdução

The somatotype is a phenotype influenced by behavioral, functional and physiological changes, alternating throughout life.

Objetivo

To analyze body composition and somatotype in cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy and who are performing physical activity and in those who are not.

Método

A randomized controlled clinical trial with patients of a philanthropic hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Female patients with breast cancer and male patients with prostate cancer were included. All subjects were about to begin radiotherapy treatment. Patients using medications that caused attention disorders and those with conditions that could compromise the practice of physical activities were excluded. The study included 86 patients: 27 in the female experimental group (FEG – Mean ± Standard Deviation = 54 years ± 6,8), 16 in the female control group (FCG; 52 years ± 6,8), 24 in the male experimental group (MEG; 58 years ± 2,6) and 19 in the male control group (MCG; 59 years ± 1,6). Body composition was analyzed using body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR) and fat percentage (F%) – this last one was obtained based on skinfold measurements. Heath-Carter equations were used to identify the somatotype of patients. The Shapiro-Wilk (SW) test was used to check the normal distribution of the sample admitting a 5% significance level.

Resultado

There was a reduction in the means of BMI (26.26 to 25.57 Kg/m2), WHR (0.81 to 0.76 cm) and F% (30.13 to 26.58%) in the FEG. There was an increase in BMI (24.49 to 25.21) and a reduction in the WHR (0.93 to 0.92) and F% (18.73 to 16.39) in the MEG. About the somatotype, non-normal distributions were observed in the mesomorph component for FEG (SW=0.011), FCG (SW=0.010) and MCG (SW=0.015), and normal for MEG (SW=0.500). In the endomorph component, the distributions were normal for FEG (SW=0.472), FCG (SW=0.070) and MCG (SW=0.831), and non-normal for MEG (SW=0.003).

Conclusão

The body composition of women practicing physical activities showed an increase in lean body mass and a reduction in fat mass while male BMI increased through lean body mass gain. In the somatotypological avaliation, men who did not engage in physical activity showed a reduction in lean body mass.

Palavras-chave

Body Composition; Somatotypes; Medical Oncology.

Área

Oncologia - Pesquisa Clínica em Oncologia