Lifetime occupational and recreational physical activity and risk of lymphoma subtypes. Results from the European Epilymph case-control study

Federico Meloni; Yolanda Benavente; Nikolaus Becker; Casabonne Delphine; Lenka Foretova; Marc Maynadié; Alexandra Nieters; Anthony Staines; Carlotta Trobbiani; Ilaria Pilia; Mariagrazia Zucca; Pierluigi Cocco

doi:10.1016/j.canep.2023.102495

Lifetime occupational and recreational physical activity and risk of lymphoma subtypes. Results from the European Epilymph case-control study

Cancer Epidemiol. 2023 Dec:87:102495. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2023.102495. Epub 2023 Nov 22.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
² Catalan Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, Spain.
³ German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁴ Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute and MF MU, Brno, Czech Republic.
⁵ Dijon University Hospital, Dijon, France.
⁶ Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
⁷ Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland.
⁸ Occupational Medicine Residency Program, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
⁹ Unit of Laboratory Medicine, Sulcis Local Health Unit, Carbonia, SU, Italy.
¹⁰ Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, Division of Population Studies, Healthcare Research & Primary Care, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manchester, UK. Electronic address: pierluigi.cocco@manchester.ac.uk.

PMID: 37992416
DOI: 10.1016/j.canep.2023.102495

Abstract

Physical activity is known to convey protection against several cancers. However, results on the risk of lymphoma overall and its subtypes have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to investigate occupational and recreational physical activity in relation to risk of lymphoma subtypes adjusting for established occupational risk factors. We applied standardized tools to assess energy expenditure at work and in recreational physical activities to the questionnaire information on lifetime work and exercise history in 1117 lymphoma cases, including Hodgkin lymphoma, and B-cell (including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and multiple myeloma) and T-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) subtypes, and 1207 controls who took part in the multicentre European EpiLymph case-control study. We calculated the risk of lymphoma (all subtypes), B-cell NHL and its most represented subtypes, and Hodgkin's lymphoma (all subtypes) associated with weekly average Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET-hours/week) and cumulative MET-hours of lifetime recreational, occupational, and total physical activity, with unconditional logistic regression and polytomous regression analysis adjusting by age, centre, sex, education, body mass index, history of farm work and solvent use. We observed an inverse association of occupational, and total physical activity with risk of lymphoma (all subtypes), and B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among women, and an upward trend in risk of Hodgkin's lymphoma with recreational and total physical activity among men, for which we cannot exclude chance or bias. Our results suggest no effect of overall physical activity on risk of lymphoma and its subtypes.

Keywords: B-cell lymphoma; Chronic lymphocytic leukemia; Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; Energy expenditure; Exercise; Follicular lymphoma; Lymphoma; Multiple myeloma; Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; Obesity; Occupation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Case-Control Studies
Exercise
Female
Hodgkin Disease* / epidemiology
Humans
Lymphoma* / epidemiology
Lymphoma* / etiology
Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin*
Male
Risk Factors