Scoping review: obese elderly women with breast cancer and physical activity/exercise

Objective

Obesity and breast cancer (BC) are diseases of concern, especially within the context of an aging population. This scoping review is aimed at mapping out the literature on the subject of elderly women (EW) with breast cancer, obesity and physical activity/exercise (PAE) to identify gaps in the present extant literature, and to suggest directions for future research.

Data sources

A total of four articles were finalized from an initial 2905 articles found via searches on the Annals of Internal Medicine by American College of Physicians (ACP)™, BioMed Central (BMC)™, BMJ Journals™, Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)™, PubMed™, SAGE™, ScienceDirect™, SpringerLink (e-journals)™, Taylor and Francis Online™, and Wiley Online Library™ databases.

Methods

Recognized structural frameworks for scoping reviews were utilized to guide the methodology and technical aspects of this paper. Data extraction was conducted via a charting table.

Results

Research gaps identified include a paucity in research on the subject of obesity and breast cancer among elderly women; there is a limitation of the types of methodologies used in the research on this subject indicating vast opportunities for future studies using different methodologies; lack of use of the alternative types of physical activity and exercise such as Tai Chi, Qigong and Yoga; lack of focus on the older elderly population; and areas of social support from family and friends for obese elderly with breast cancer to engage in physical activity and exercise.

Conclusion

Future research would address the urgent need within academia to address the research gap of PAE and EWBC. Such research should use a diverse range of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, while including eastern exercise regimens such as Tai Chi, Qigong and Yoga as a means of studying PAE among EWBC. Additionally, future research may focus on the “old elderly” as a demographic group of study as well as how social support may encourage PAE among EWBC.