Exercise linked to better mental, physical health among those with kidney cancer
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Physical activity or exercise appeared associated with improved mental and physical health among people with kidney cancer, according to study results.
The findings — presented at International Kidney Cancer Symposium: North America — demonstrate the importance of these modifiable behaviors as potential strategies to improve quality of life for patients or survivors, researchers concluded.
“Additionally, physical activity may mitigate or prevent some of the well-known [adverse] effects associated with kidney cancer diagnosis and treatment,” Daniel S. Roberson, MD, resident in the division of urology at University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues wrote.
Kidney cancer diagnosis and treatment can have detrimental effects on physical and mental health. It is essential for clinicians to think about potentially modifiable behaviors that can help improve quality of life, according to study background.
Roberson and colleagues used the national Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System — a telephone health survey system — to perform a cross-sectional retrospective study designed to assess the effect of self-reported exercise and physical activity on people with kidney cancer.
Researchers reviewed data from more than 2.1 million survey participants between 2016 and 2020.
The analysis included 576 participants (mean age, 66.6 years) who self-reported kidney cancer diagnosis. More than half (56.5%) had completed treatment, 12.1% reported undergoing active treatment, 6.8% indicated they had not started treatment and 20% reported treatment had not been necessary.
Researchers hypothesized that lack of exercise and physical activity would be associated with poorer physical and mental health. They tested their hypothesis with multivariable logistic regression modeling analysis that examined the percentage of patients who reported 14 or more days when mental health or physical health was not good. Investigators adjusted for sex, age, treatment status, marital status, income, BMI and smoking status.
More than half (62.3%) of study participants reported having exercised or gotten physical activity in the prior 30 days.
Nearly one-third (30.2%) of study participants reported experiencing 14 or more days when their physical health was not good, and 12.9% reported experiencing 14 or more days when their mental health was not good.
Those who reported exercise or physical activity in the prior 30 days appeared significantly less likely to report worse mental health status (OR = 0.41; 95% CI, 0.2-0.85) or poor physical status (OR = 0.44; 95% CI, 0.27-0.72).
Researchers acknowledged study limitations, including lack of granularity in terms of treatment modality or disease staging, an inability to control for all comorbidities, and the potential biases associated with retrospective analyses.
“We nonetheless feel as though our results are significant for [patients with kidney cancer], clinicians who treat and study those patients, and health systems and insurers who provide care,” Roberson and colleagues wrote.
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Roberson DS, et al. Abstract 13. Presented at: International Kidney Cancer Symposium: North America; Nov. 4-5, 2022; Austin, Texas.
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