News

31st March 2004

Cancer risk reduced by housework

Doing household chores may not be anyone's favourite past-time, especially busy mothers, but new research suggests that it may reduce a woman's risk of getting cancer.

Researchers have found that the risk of cancer of the womb lining, also known as endometrial cancer, was cut by up to 30 per cent by physical activities such as walking and housework.

A separate study also showed that women who exercised were more likely to survive breast cancer.

Both study findings were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting in Orlando and support previous findings that suggest exercise reduces the risk and increases survival rates for several types of cancer.

The study was led by Charles Matthews of the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee, and colleagues at the Shanghai Cancer Institute in China.

They studied 974 women aged 30 to 69 with endometrial cancer and compared them to women of a similar age who did not have the disease. Their findings showed that there was greater protection for women who did more than four hours of chores a day than for those who did less than two hours.

Dr Charles Matthews said "Exercise in adulthood was associated with nearly a 20 per cent reduction in endometrial cancer risk. The risk of cancer can be reduced by maintaining an active lifestyle."

"We were particularly pleased to see the beneficial effect on endometrial cancer risk of more accessible and lower intensity forms of activity like walking for transportation and doing household chores, as well as intentional exercise."

A separate study by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University, also presented to the Orlando meeting, found the risk of death for women who had breast cancer was up to 54 per cent less for women who walked regularly or did household chores.

Dr Michelle Holmes, who led the study said, "Even a moderate amount of physical activity improved the odds of surviving breast cancer."

Clare Stevinson, a Cancer Research UK researcher at the department of exercise and health sciences at the University of Bristol, said "Some levels of housework are hard enough to have a physiological effect. It doesn't have to be a huge amount of high intensity stuff. But the more you do, the better."

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