Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior of Cancer Survivors and Non-Cancer Individuals: Results from a National Survey

Authors

Roy B. Kim, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
Allison Phillips, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
Kirsten Herrick, Virginia Commonwealth University
Marieka Helou, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
Carlin Rafie, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
Mitchell S. Anscher, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
Ross B. Mikkelsen, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow
Yi Ning, Virginia Commonwealth UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Original Publication Date

2013

Journal/Book/Conference Title

PLOS ONE

Volume

8

DOI of Original Publication

10.1371/journal.pone.0057598

Comments

Originally published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057598

Date of Submission

October 2014

Abstract

Increasing physical activity and decreasing sedentary behavior are associated with a higher quality of life and lower mortality rates for cancer survivors, a growing population group. Studies detailing the behavior of cancer survivors are limited. Therefore, we investigated physical activity and sedentary behavior of cancer survivors using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007–2010. Participants were those who provided physical activity and sedentary behavior data. Those who were pregnant,old, or10,472 non-cancer participants. After adjustment for age, race, gender, education status, body mass index, and smoking status, cancer survivors (n = 10,472) reported significantly longer duration of sedentary behavior (OR = 1.42, 95% CI (1.12, 1.80) for 8 or more hours, p-value for trend = 0.09), compared to non-cancer participants (n = 741). They also reported non-significant increases in maximum intensity, duration, frequency, and energy expenditure, whereas they reported significant increases in moderate intensity (OR = 1.26, 95% CI (1.01, 1.57)), moderate frequency (1–4 times/week) (OR = 1.32, 95% CI (1.00, 1.74)), and moderate energy expenditure (4018.5–7623.5 kcal) (OR = 1.30, 95% CI (1.00, 1.71)) of physical activity, compared to non-cancer participants. These patterns are similar for breast and prostate cancer survivors, with prostate cancer survivors more likely to engage in physical activity for more than one hour per day (OR = 1.98, 95% CI (1.05, 3.71)). Our findings suggest that cancer survivors tend to have more physical activity, but they are also more likely to engage in sedentary behavior.

Rights

© 2013 Kim et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Is Part Of

VCU Family Medicine and Population Health Publications