According to a recent study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, moderate to high levels of regular physical activity is significantly associated with a lower risk of certain cancers, such as lung, breast, hepatobiliary tract, colon and oropharyngeal cancer.
Researchers analysed the data for 364,899 adults from the UK Biobank. Self-reported levels of physical activity were derived using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form.
High vs low levels of physical activity were significantly associated with a lower risk of lung cancer (HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.70-0.94), female breast cancer (HR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.77-0.94), hepatobiliary tract cancer (HR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.53-0.97) and colon cancer (HR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.74-0.99). Moderate vs low levels of physical activity were significantly associated with a lower risk of oropharyngeal cancer (HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.55-0.93) and lung cancer (HR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.74-0.99).
When incident cases diagnosed at least two years after baseline were considered, all associations were attenuated with the exception of breast and lung cancer incidence. In subgroup analyses, associations varied according to socio-economic status, smoking status and combined body fat percentage and physical activity level.
"These findings support the promotion of physical activity in cancer prevention, particularly high levels of physical activity,” the authors commented. They call for further research to investigate cancer risks in relation to accelerometer-derived physical activity instead of self-reported physical activity.
