Photo Credit: Hernan Caputo
A mobile behavior change app produced clinically significant weight loss, increased physical activity, and improved body image in breast cancer survivors.
Breast cancer survivors showed high engagement with the Noom mobile behavior change program, which led to clinically significant weight loss, increased physical activity, and improved body image over 26 weeks, according to a study published online in NPJ Breast Cancer.
“Post-diagnosis weight gain is common in early-stage breast cancer and is associated with increased risk of recurrence and mortality,” wrote corresponding author Neil M. Iyengar, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, and study coauthors. “Intentional weight loss is difficult to maintain, and digital lifestyle interventions may provide a scalable approach to address this challenge.
The prospective single-arm study included 31 patients who had completed treatment for stage I through III breast cancer no less than 6 months earlier. Participants had a body mass index (BMI) of 27.5 kg/m2 or higher.
The study’s primary endpoint was change in self-reported weight after 26 weeks of using the behavioral change app. At baseline, the mean BMI was 33.5 kg/m2 ± 6.5, and the mean age of participants was 56.8 ±9.9 years.
Breast cancer survivors lost an average 4.8 kg, or 5.6% of their body weight, between baseline and 26 weeks, according to the study.
More than a third of participants (35.5%) lost 5% or more of their starting weight. The study found that app engagement metrics linked with a 5% or greater weight loss included higher numbers of total articles read, total weights logged, total meals logged, messages sent to coaches, and times the Noom app was opened.
“Dietary energy restriction was consistent [from] week 1 through the end of the intervention period … and was within the calorie-restricted range of 1,200 to 1,500 kcal/day recommended for weight loss in women with overweight or obese BMI,” researchers reported.
Additionally, daily step count, physical activity scores, and body image scores significantly improved. By the study’s end, average daily step counts increased from 2744.4 to 4245, and Global Physical Activity Questionnaire scores increased from 990.3 to 1773. Average scores on the Body Image Scale, in which higher numbers indicate a higher level of body image disturbance, decreased from 11.7 to 7.8.
“Results from this trial could provide oncology care teams with a convenient and scalable intervention for weight loss in breast cancer survivors,” researchers advised.
