High cardiorespiratory fitness may lower risk for certain cancers up to 40%
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Key takeaways:
- High cardiorespiratory fitness was linked to a lower risk for nine site-specific cancers in men.
- Public health efforts should focus on aerobic physical activity to increase cardiorespiratory fitness.
High cardiorespiratory fitness was linked to reductions in head and neck, colon, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, rectum, kidney and lung cancers among men, according to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Although physical activity (PA) has previously been shown to reduce the risk for multiple cancers, Aron Onerup, MD, PhD, from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, and colleagues wrote that “there are fewer studies on associations between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and cancer.”
The researchers aimed to assess CRF associations with site-specific cancers in a Swedish-based cohort of men aged 16 to 25 years who were conscripted into the military from 1986 to 2005.
The primary analysis was conducted on 1,078,000 men, of whom 84,117 developed site-specific cancers during a mean follow-up of 33 years. Those with low CRF were more likely to have obesity and higher alcohol and substance abuse vs. those with high CRF.
Overall, higher CRF was linked to risk reductions for the development of cancers in the:
- head and neck (HR = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.74-0.9);
- lung (HR = 0.58; 95% CI, 0.51-0.66);
- stomach (HR = 0.79; 95% CI, 0.67-0.94);
- pancreas (HR = 0.88; 95% CI, 0.76-1.01);
- liver (HR = 0.6; 95% CI, 0.51-0.71);
- colon (HR = 0.82; 95% CI, 0.75-0.9);
- rectum (HR = 0.95; 95% CI, 0.85-1.05);
- kidney (HR = 0.8; 95% CI, 0.7-0.9); and
- esophagus (HR = 0.61; 95% CI, 0.5-0.74).
“The results indicate a 20% to 40% lower hazard for men with high vs. low CRF for several gastrointestinal sites, which would be clinically relevant,” Onerup and colleagues wrote.
In contrast, prior studies have demonstrated a link between PA and a 10% to 20% risk reduction for most associated cancers, according to the researchers.
“One explanation for this could be that most studies on PA use self-reported doses of PA, which has a relatively low sensitivity,” they wrote. “However, CRF is improved mainly by aerobic PA of moderate to high relative intensity and less by low-intensity PA.”
Higher CRF was also linked to an increased risk for being diagnosed with prostate cancer (HR = 1.07; 95% CI, 1.03-1.12) and malignant skin cancer (HR = 1.31; 95% CI, 1.27-1.36). The finding for prostate cancer is consistent with previous studies and could be explained by increased screening, Onerup and colleagues wrote.
“For malignant skin cancer, the increase with higher CRF could possibly be due to a higher UV exposure for those with higher CRF,” they added.
The researchers noted that future research should confirm associations for cancer sites that have not been reported and evaluate whether the reduced risk for cancer development also results in a greater chance of survival after a cancer diagnosis.
Ultimately, the results “may indicate that public health efforts aimed at reducing cancer should focus on aerobic PA of sufficient relative intensity to increase CRF,” they concluded.
References:
- Good cardiorespiratory fitness associated with up to 40% lower risk of 9 cancers. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/998381. Published Aug. 15, 2023. Accessed Aug. 15, 2023.
- Onerup A, et al. Br J Sports Med. 2023;doi:10.1136/bjsports-2022-106617.