Intensity- and domain-specific physical activity levels between cancer survivors and non-cancer diagnosis individuals: a propensity score matching analysis

• Published in: Supportive care in cancer Vol. 29; no. 2; pp. 661 - 668
• Main Authors: Lee, Jeongmin, Min, Jihee, Lee, Dong Hoon, Kang, Dong-Woo, Jeon, Justin Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-02-2021; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Body Mass Index; Cancer; Cancer survivors; Cancer Survivors - statistics & numerical data; Case-Control Studies; Comparative analysis; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diagnosis; Exercise; Exercise - physiology; Exercise intensity; Female; Health surveys; Humans; Leisure; Male; Medical diagnosis; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Neoplasms - epidemiology; Neoplasms - physiopathology; Nursing; Nursing Research; Nutrition Surveys; Oncology; Oncology, Experimental; Original Article; Pain Medicine; Propensity Score; Rehabilitation Medicine; Republic of Korea - epidemiology; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Survivor; Republic of Korea; South Korea; Cancer survivors; Physical activity; Global Physical Activity Questionnaire; Leisure-time physical activity
• ISSN: 0941-4355; 1433-7339
• DOI: 10.1007/s00520-020-05514-w

Purpose
To examine intensity- and domain-specific physical activity (PA) levels between Korean cancer survivors compared with non-cancer individuals.
Methods
We used data from the 2014–2016 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHNES) to compare PA levels between 639 cancer survivors and 15,352 non-cancer individuals. Using the 1:5 propensity score matching analysis by sex, age, body mass index (BMI), and education level, 3195 non-cancer individuals were selected. Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) was used to assess PA levels.
Results
Cancer survivors were more likely to participate in a leisure-time PA (64.5 ± 157.9 vs. 51.8 ± 145.3 min/week,
p
 < 0.002) compared with non-cancer individuals, while no difference was observed between groups in work and transportation. Cancer survivors undergoing treatment participated in more leisure-time PA (80.9 ± 169.2 vs. 56.6 ± 151.8 min/week,
p
 < 0.02) compared with cancer survivors who completed cancer treatment. However, we found no significant difference in vigorous-intensity PA (18.8 ± 113.9 vs. 20.5 ± 156.1 min/week,
p
 = 0.56) and moderate-intensity PA (186.2 ± 313.1 vs. 203.1 ± 355.3 min/week,
p
 = 0.17) levels between cancer survivors and non-cancer individuals.
Conclusions
This study showed that cancer survivors were more participated in leisure-time PA compared with age, gender, BMI, and education levels matched non-cancer individuals.