CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
Clinical pathology abstracts editor: Deborah Sesok-Pizzini, MD, MBA, associate professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and medical director, Blood Bank and Transfusion Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Recreational physical activity and leisure time relative to colorectal cancer survival
Some observational studies have reported that physical activity may be associated with reduced breast and colon cancer-specific mortality. However, the association between recreational physical activity and mortality among colorectal cancer survivors is unclear. Therefore, the authors conducted a study in which they examined the association of prediagnosis and postdiagnosis physical activity and leisure time spent sitting with mortality among patients with colorectal cancer. From a cohort of adults without colorectal cancer at baseline in 1992 and 1993, the authors identified 2,293 participants with a diagnosis of invasive, nonmetastatic colorectal cancer up to mid-2007. At baseline, before their cancer diagnosis, and again after their cancer diagnosis, participants completed a questionnaire that included information about recreational physical activity and leisure time spent sitting. Results showed that during a maximum followup of 16.1 years after colorectal cancer diagnosis, 846 patients died, and 379 of those deaths were from colorectal cancer. Patients that engaged in 8.75 or more metabolic equivalent (MET) hours per week of recreational physical activity (150 minutes per week of walking) had a lower all-cause mortality compared with patients that reported fewer than 3.5 MET hours per week (prediagnosis physical activity: relative risk [RR], 0.72; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.58–0.89; postdiagnosis physical activity: RR, 0.58; 95 percent CI, 0.47–0.71). Interestingly, spending six or more hours per day of leisure time sitting compared with less than three hours per day was associated with higher all-cause mortality (prediagnosis sitting time: RR, 1.36; 95 percent CI, 1.10–1.68; postdiagnosis sitting time: RR 1.27; 95 percent CI, 0.99–1.64). The authors asserted that they were the first to show an association between longer leisure time spent sitting and higher risk of mortality among colorectal cancer survivors. They concluded that performing moderate-intensity physical activity per week was associated with a lower risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality. This study supports public health recommendations for recreational physical activity and less of a sedentary lifestyle among colorectal cancer survivors.
Campbell PT, Patel AV, Newton CC, et al. Associations of recreational physical activity and leisure time spent sitting with colorectal cancer survival. J Clin Oncol. 2013;31:876–885.
Correspondence: Peter T. Campbell at peter.campbell@cancer.org