Barbara Boughton    Medical & Lifestyle Writer

Barbara is a medical writer and editor with over 25 years of experience. She writes for trade magazines, consumer magazines and the news section of journals such as the Lancet Oncology. She also has extensive experience in editing CME and other clinical articles.

Contact Barbara to find out more about her writing and editing services at barbara.boughton@gmail.com.

Barbara's Medical Articles for Healthcare Clinicians include:

Is there a Future for Cardio-Mammography? an article in For the Record, a magazine for health record professionals.

Encouraging Group Support, an article for the Patient-Centered HIV/HCV Practice Newsletter

Read Barbara's news article for the Lancet Oncology on colon cancer and exercise 

Exercise Could Improve Colorectal-Cancer Survival

Two studies published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in August, 2006 have found that physical activity can significantly improve survival and reduce cancer recurrence in patients with nonmetastatic colorectal cancer. Though many studies have established the benefits of physical activity for preventing colorectal cancer, these studies are the first to document in detail the benefits of physical activity in reducing recurrence and improving mortality for colorectal cancer survivors.

“Higher levels of physical activity contributed to a 50% reduced risk of recurrence and mortality, when combined with standard therapies,” said lead author Jeffrey Meyerhardt, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

"These studies provide consistent observational data that show that exercise may provide additive benefit to patients diagnosed with colon and rectal cancer, who have been treated with surgery and chemotherapies,” he added.

In the first study, 832 patients from the CALGB 89803 study, a randomized adjuvant chemotherapy trial, all diagnosed with stage III colon cancer, were asked to fill out questionnaires concerning lifestyle and physical activity during their adjuvant therapy and 6 months after adjuvant therapy. When compared to those who participated in less than 3 MET-hours per week of physical activity, the adjusted hazard ratio for disease-free survival was 0.51 for those who participated in 18 to 26.9 metabolic equivalent tasks (MET)-hours of activity per week and 0.55 for those who participated in more than 27 MET-hours of physical activity per week. In the most active group, overall survival was also improved by 50% when compared to those who exercised for less than 3 MET-hours.

In the second study of 573 women diagnosed with stage I to III colorectal cancer from the Nurses’ Health Study, women who participated in at least 18 MET-hours of activity had a hazard ratio of .39 for cancer specific mortality and .43 for overall mortality compared to those who participated in less than 3 MET hours of physical activity per week.

In both studies—to reduce bias--patients who had died or had recurrent disease within months after activity assessment were excluded.  

“These strong epidemiological research studies give us very consistent data about the benefits of physical exercise for cancer survivors. We can now say to our patients: exercise is associated with reduced recurrence and mortality in colorectal cancer,” said Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, PhD, of Duke University Medical Center, who wrote an accompanying editorial to the studies in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

For the complete full published text of this article visit www.thelancet.com

Barbara is an experienced medical writer who has written about a wide range of medical topics, including oncology, infectious disease, HIV and AIDS, hepatitis, orthopedics, ophthalmology, psychiatry, alternative medicine and women's health