Correlates of physical activity and sedentary behavior among cancer survivors and cancer-free women: The Women's Health Accelerometry Collaboration

PLoS One. 2024 Apr 4;19(4):e0301233. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301233. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Background: Describing correlates of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) among postmenopausal cancer survivors can help identify risk profiles and can be used to support development of targeted interventions to improve PA and reduce SB in this population.

Objective: To describe PA/SB and identify correlates of PA/SB among cancer and cancer-free post-menopausal women.

Methods: Women from the Women's Health Study (N = 16,629) and Women's Health Initiative/Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health Study (N = 6,079) were asked to wear an accelerometer on the hip for 7 days. Multiple mixed-effects linear regression models were used to identify sociodemographic-, health-, and chronic condition-related correlates (independent variables) associated with PA and SB (dependent variables) among women with (n = 2,554) and without (n = 20,154) a history of cancer. All correlates were mutually adjusted for each other.

Results: In unadjusted analyses, women with a history of cancer took fewer mean daily steps (4,572 (standard deviation 2557) vs 5,029 (2679) steps/day) and had lower mean moderate-to-vigorous PA (74.9 (45.0) vs. 81.6 (46.7) minutes/day) than cancer-free women. In adjusted analyses, for cancer and cancer-free women, age, diabetes, overweight, and obesity were inversely associated with all metrics of PA (average vector magnitude, time in moderate-to-vigorous PA, step volume, time at ≥40 steps/minutes, and peak 30-minute step cadence). In unadjusted analyses, mean SB was similar for those with and without cancer (529.7 (98.1) vs. 521.7 (101.2) minutes/day). In adjusted analyses, for cancer and cancer-free women, age, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, current smoking, overweight, and obesity were positive correlates of SB, while Black or Hispanic race/ethnicity, weekly/daily alcohol intake, and excellent/very good/good self-rated health were inverse correlates of SB.

Conclusion: Several sociodemographic, health, and chronic conditions were correlates of PA/SB for postmenopausal women with and without cancer. Future studies should examine longitudinal relationships to gain insight into potential determinants of PA/SB.

MeSH terms

  • Accelerometry
  • Cancer Survivors*
  • Diabetes Mellitus*
  • Exercise
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms* / epidemiology
  • Obesity
  • Overweight
  • Sedentary Behavior
  • Women's Health

Grants and funding

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 5R01CA227122: National Cancer Institute, Office of the Director, Office of Disease Prevention, and Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research. WHS is funded by NIH grants CA154647, CA047988, CA182913, HL043851, HL080467, and HL099355. The WHI program is funded by NIH, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute #75N92021D00001, 75N92021D00002, 75N92021D00003, 75N92021D00004, 75N92021D00005, and grant R01HL105065. Christopher Moore was supported by a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute National Research Service Award (T32-HL007055). Dr. Parada Jr. was supported by the National Cancer Institute (K01 CA234317), the SDSU/UCSD Comprehensive Cancer Center Partnership (U54 CA132384 and U54 CA132379), and the Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for advancing Minority Aging Research at the University of California San Diego (P30 AG059299). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.