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Exercise Associated with Cognitive Function in Older Men with Prostate Cancer Undergoing Androgen Deprivation Therapy

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Abstract

Background

To examine associations between exercise and cognitive function in older men undergoing hormone therapy for prostate cancer.

Method

Men ≥ 65 years old with prostate cancer, currently undergoing androgen deprivation therapy for ≥ 6 months (n = 50), completed the Godin-Shephard Leisure-Time Physical Activity Questionnaire, and standard neuropsychological tests. Pearson’s correlations and linear regressions were used to examine associations between exercise and cognitive performance.

Results

Exercise was significantly positively correlated with performance on tests of memory, attention, and executive function. Linear regressions showed that when controlling for age and education, exercise remained a significant predictor of attention and executive function performance (p < 0.05), and showed moderate, but statistically non-significant effects on memory performance (p < 0.10).

Conclusion

Greater exercise is associated with better functioning in multiple cognitive domains in men with prostate cancer undergoing hormone therapy, providing proof-of-concept evidence that exercise may be a feasible intervention to limit cognitive dysfunction in prostate cancer patients.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, AMG, upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by The National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Grants R03 CA119756, T32 CA009461, U54 CA137788, and P30 CA008748.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Alexandra M. Gaynor, Kathleen R. Flaherty, James C. Root & Christian J. Nelson

  2. Taub Institute for Research On Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, USA

    Alexandra M. Gaynor

  3. City University of New York School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Kaliris Y. Salas-Ramirez

  4. Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA

    Jessica M. Scott

Authors
  1. Alexandra M. Gaynor
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  2. Kathleen R. Flaherty
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  3. James C. Root
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  4. Kaliris Y. Salas-Ramirez
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  5. Jessica M. Scott
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  6. Christian J. Nelson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandra M. Gaynor.

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Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Gaynor, A.M., Flaherty, K.R., Root, J.C. et al. Exercise Associated with Cognitive Function in Older Men with Prostate Cancer Undergoing Androgen Deprivation Therapy. Int.J. Behav. Med. 30, 924–929 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-022-10150-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-022-10150-1

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