Exercise seems ineffective to boost bone mineral density while on ADT

Moderate-intensity aerobic and resistance exercises may not be enough to attenuate the negative effects of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) on metabolic markers and bone mineral density (BMD) in older men with prostate cancer (PCa), a recent study has found.

Forty-eight participants (mean age, 69.8±7.4 years) were enrolled and assigned randomly to one of three interventions: personal training, supervised group training, or home-based training. All intervention arms targeted 150 minutes of physical activity per week, involving moderate-intensity aerobic exercise with resistance training, over 4–5 days per week.

Paired-samples t-tests were performed to determine within-group changes in BMD from baseline to 6 months, and from 6 months to 12 months. Through this, researchers saw no significant improvement in BMD or metabolic biomarkers, and changes in markers over 6 months did not differ across adherence tertiles.

The researchers also observed no significant between-intervention differences in terms of BMD and metabolic biomarkers at 6 or 12 months of follow-up.

In contrast, they found a significant spike in total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein at 12 months relative to 6 months, while haemoglobin increased significantly from baseline to 6 months.

“[W]e found that 6 months of moderate-intensity aerobic and resistance training is not associated with improvements in metabolic biomarkers or BMD outcomes in older men undergoing ADT for PCa,” the researchers said.

“Definitive evidence regarding the effect of exercise on metabolic biomarkers and BMD warrants larger trials of potentially different exercise stimuli and/or combined with dietary interventions,” they added.