Exercise may boost survival in cancer patients post-treatment

Higher levels of physical activity may not only prevent the risk of cancers but also boost survival rates in people who have undergone treatment. 

Researchers from the Louisiana State University in the US focussed on long-term survival rates in colon cancer survivors. Individuals with colon cancer face higher rates of premature mortality than people in the general population.

To assess whether exercise might reduce this disparity, the team analysed data from two posttreatment trials in patients with stage 3 colon cancer. A total of 2,875 patients self-reported physical activity after cancer surgery and chemotherapy.

For all participants, physical activity was based on metabolic equivalent (MET) hours per week. (Health guidelines recommend 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, translating to approximately 8 MET hours/week.)

The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal CANCER, showed that patients who were alive at three years after cancer treatment, and those with less than 3 MET-hours/week had subsequent 3-year overall survival rates. It was 17.1 per cent lower than the matched general population.

On the other hand, people with more than 18 MET-hours/week had only 3.5 lower subsequent 3-year overall survival rates than the matched general population. Similarly in the second trial, patients who were alive at three years, those with less than 3 and more than 18 MET-hours/week had subsequent 3-year overall survival rates that were 10.8 per cent and 4.4 per cent lower than the matched general population, respectively.

The results indicate that “higher levels of physical activity may lessen and even eliminate survival disparities,” the researchers said. The study showed that cancer survivors who were tumour-free by year three and regularly exercised achieved even better subsequent survival rates.

“This new information can help patients with colon cancer understand how factors that they can control — their physical activity levels — can have a meaningful impact on their long-term prognosis,” said lead author Justin C. Brown, from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.

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