News & Stories
Spring 2026 Participant Newsletter
Impact of physical activity after breast cancer diagnosis
One of our newer research areas within the Generations Study is exploring life after breast cancer diagnosis. There are now over 600,000 women living with or beyond breast cancer in the UK and this is one of Breast Cancer Now’s priority areas.
We are studying how physical activity affects the chances of breast cancer coming back or survival.
We already know from studies like the Generations Study that physical activity reduces the risk of developing breast cancer. Some studies now suggest that doing more physical activity might increase survival. We would like to know if it also reduces the chance of the cancer coming back. To study this we are looking at questionnaires and NHS data from 4,000 women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. We can use the multiple rounds of questionnaires that participants have completed to study physical activity both before and after breast cancer diagnosis.
As part of this new research we are also planning a special questionnaire to learn more about the experience of participants living with or beyond breast cancer. This will include the diagnosis journey, quality of life, returning to work and support from family and friends. We are planning to send this questionnaire later this year to those who went through a breast cancer diagnosis.