Dr. Hershman Discusses the HOPE Study

Dawn Hershman, MD, MS, medical oncologist, Columbia University Medical Center, discusses the HOPE Study, a randomized trial of exercise vs. usual care on aromatase inhibitor-associated arthralgias in women with breast cancer.

Hershman says one of the main reasons why women have low quality of life on hormonal therapy is because of side effects. The most common side effect of aromatase inhibitors is joint discomfort, stiffness and pain. Multiple studies have confirmed this, Hershman says, but there have been no proven effective therapies for reducing these symptoms.

The HOPE study looked at the role of exercise in reducing joint pain that comes from hormone therapy. The results showed that there was a 30% reduction in joint symptoms in the group of patients that were randomized to the exercise intervention. Hershman also says the patients that exercised more had less symptoms than those who exercised less. However, patients that didn’t exercise at all had an increase in symptoms over time, Hershman says.