Acute exercise-induced catecholaminergic responses after 16 weeks of community-based exercise training in early-stage breast cancer survivors

Table 3 Physiological responses to VO₂peak test and acute, intermittent exercise before and after training, mean (SD)

	BCS (n = 13)		CON (n = 13)		P values
	PRE	POST	PRE	POST	G × P	Group	Phase	g
CPET
VO2peak (mL∙kg-1∙minute-1)	21.4 (6.6)	22.3 (5.6)	22.5 (2.8)	23.6 (4.5)	0.860	0.523	0.164	-0.04
Peak HR (bpm)	160 (18)	160 (17)	157 (10)	158 (12)	0.830	0.709	0.910	-0.07
Peak power output (W)	119 (34)	137 (40)	129 (21)	136 (24)	0.050a	0.713	< 0.001b	0.34
Duration (second)	596 (127)	669 (142)	617 (85)	647 (154)	0.236	0.928	0.006b	0.31
Acute Exercise Trial
Resistance (W)	74 (20)	83 (24)	77 (16)	82 (82)	0.194	0.848	< 0.001b	0.07
Average RPE	14 (3)	13 (1)	13 (1)	14 (1)	0.070	0.709	0.588	-0.97
average HR (bpm)	136 (8)	136 (7)	135 (8)	145 (9)	0.139	0.166	0.149	-1.20

^aP = 0.05, interaction effect [breast cancer survivor (BCS) vs non-cancer control (CON)].

^bP < 0.05, effect of phase [post-training (POST) vs pre-training (PRE)].

A linear mixed model using a group (BCS vs CON) × training (PRE vs POST) approach was taken to assess training-induced changes. BCS: Breast cancer survivor; CON: Non-cancer control; PRE: Pre-training; POST: Post-training; CPET: Cardiopulmonary exercise test; VO₂peak: Peak oxygen uptake; G × P: Group × phase interaction; g: Hedge’s g effect sizes with thresholds set at 0.16 (small), 0.38 (medium), and 0.76 (large).