The Effect of Exercise and Educational Programs for Breast Cancer Patients on the Development of Breast Cancer-Related Lymphoedema: Secondary Endpoint from a Randomized Controlled Trial in the Setouchi Breast Project-10.

Although the association between higher physical activity and preventive effect on breast-cancer-related lymphoedema (BCRL) has been reported, it is unclear what intervention is optimal. We aimed to investigate the effect of exercise and educational programs on BCRL development. This study was a secondary endpoint analysis from a prospective randomized controlled trial. We enrolled patients with stage 0–III breast cancer from March 2016 to March 2020 and randomly assigned them to the control (n = 111), education (n = 115), or exercise (n = 104) group. As secondary endpoint, we assessed the incidence of and preventive effect on BCRL at 12 months post-intervention. There were no significant differences in the incidence of BCRL at 12 months post-intervention between the exercise and control groups (9.8