The association of physical activity and colorectal and breast cancer: The Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2008–2011)

Abstract

Therapeutic importance of physical activity during and after cancer treatment has been supported. To examine the patterns of physical activity according to the stages of breast and colorectal cancer survivor-ship in Korean, Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2008 to 2011 were used. International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was utilized to estimate weekly time spent in vigorous- and moderate-intensity physical activity, and walking, and to calculate MET-minute/week. Depending on the survivorship, the subjects were categorized into “never diagnosed with cancer” (group 1), “0–4 yr since cancer diagnosis” (group 2), and “5 or more years since cancer diagnosis” (group 3), separately for colorectal and breast cancer. The associations between physical activity and the cancer survivorship were studied. Following results were obtained: (1) Breast cancer (n=10,167, mean age=48.55±16.27): The mean physical activity levels expressed in MET-minutes/week were 2,064.83, 1748.82, and 1998.36 in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Even though cancer survivors tended to be less active compared to people without cancer, there were no statistically significant difference among the three groups. (2) Colorectal cancer (n=17,270, mean age=48.62): MET-minutes/week was 2064.30, 1084.83, and 709.04 36 in groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The differences were significant between group 1 and 2 (F=5.87, P=0.016) and group 1 and 3 (F=28.99, P<0.001). Despite potential therapeutic benefits of physical activity, colorectal cancer survivors were less active than people without cancer in Korea.

Exercise and cancer mortality in Korean men and women: a prospective cohort study

“…In the context of physical activity, relatively low levels of leisure time physical activity and exercise among South Asian people were reported [ 15 ]. Nonetheless, a few previous studies investigating physical activity in relation to cancer in Asian populations were either cross-sectional or had low statistical power due to the small sample size [ 16 – 19 ]. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to examine the associations of exercise per week with all-cause and cancer-specific mortality using data from a large-scale prospective cohort study of Koreans.…”

Cancer patients participating in a lifestyle intervention during chemotherapy greatly over-report their physical activity level: a validation study

“…These difficulties may be of even greater magnitude for cancer patients experiencing disease and treatment-related side-effects like fatigue, loss of interest, and cognitive difficulties [ 13 , 14 ] when undergoing chemotherapy. A short form of the IPAQ (IPAQ-sf) is therefore preferred and previously used in cancer patients [ 15 ], but has not been validated in cancer patients. Cancer is primarily a disease of the elderly [ 16 ], which can make the use of the IPAQ-sf challenging since the questionnaire is developed for adults aged 18–65 years [ 9 ].…”

Physical activity disparities by socioeconomic status among metabolic syndrome patients: The Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

“…This means that different socioeconomic groups take advantage of different levels of physical activity resources such as knowledge, motivation, and social and physical environment. Moreover, physical inactivity increases chances for not only onset of chronic diseases, but also recurrence and/or further development of such conditions ( Kang, 2015 ). Therefore, it can be a double-difficulty for lower socioeconomic class with hypokinetic chronic diseases such as metabolic syndrome, because they may be less likely to participate in physical activity as a treatment purpose.…”