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Physical activity and endometrial cancer in a population-based case–control study

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Abstract

Introduction

Published studies of physical activity, BMI, and endometrial cancer risk show conflicting results and many do not report on reliability or validity of physical activity questionnaires.

Methods

We collected physical activity data on 667 incident cases of endometrial cancer and 662 age-matched controls. Interview-administered questionnaires, collecting demographic and lifestyle information, including a validated questionnaire for physical activity. We performed unconditional logistic regression to examine the relationship between moderate- to vigorous-intensity sports/recreational physical activity (MV PA), sit time, and endometrial cancer risk.

Results

Compared to women reporting 0 metabolic equivalent (MET) hours per week of MV PA, those who reported 7.5 MET h/wk or more had a 34% lower endometrial cancer risk (odds ratio (OR) = 0.66, 95% CI 0.50–0.87) after adjusting for risk factors including BMI. Those women sitting more than 8 h per day had a 52% increased odds (95% CI 1.07–2.16) of endometrial cancer compared to those sitting less than 4 h per day. We created a composite measure of physical activity and BMI and found that women with a BMI <25 and activity levels ≥7.5 MET h/wk had a 73% lower endometrial cancer risk (OR = 0.27, 95% CI 0.18–0.39) compared with the reference group of overweight (BMI ≥25) and sedentary (MET h/wk = 0).

Conclusion

Our data support an inverse, independent association between physical activity and endometrial cancer risk after adjusting for BMI and other risk factors.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by NCI-NIH grant 5R01CA098346. The cooperation of 28 Connecticut hospitals, including Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, Bridgeport Hospital, Danbury Hospital, Hartford Hospital, Middlesex Hospital, New Britain General Hospital, Bradley Memorial Hospital, Yale/New Haven Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, St. Mary’s Hospital, Hospital of St. Raphael, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, Stamford Hospital, William W. Backus Hospital, Windham Hospital, Eastern Connecticut Health Network, Griffin Hospital, Bristol Hospital, Johnson Memorial Hospital, Day Kimball Hospital, Greenwich Hospital, Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, Milford Hospital, New Milford Hospital, Norwalk Hospital, MidState Medical Center, John Dempsey Hospital and Waterbury Hospital, in allowing patient access, is gratefully acknowledged. This study was approved by the State of Connecticut Department of Public Health Human Investigation Committee. Certain data used in this study were obtained from the Connecticut Tumor Registry in the Connecticut Department of Public Health. The authors assume full responsibility for analyses and interpretation of these data. The authors want to specially thank Rajni Mehta for her support in case identification through RCA, Helen Sayward for her effort in conducting the study, Ellen Anderson, Donna Bowers, Renee Capasso, Kristin DeFrancesco, Anna Florczak, and Sherry Rowland for their assistance in recruiting and interviewing study participants, and Na Ni for her help in SAS programming.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, 60 College St, Room 428, PO Box 208034, New Haven, CT, 06520-8034, USA

    Hannah Arem, Melinda L. Irwin, Yang Zhou, Lingeng Lu, Harvey Risch & Herbert Yu

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  1. Hannah Arem
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  2. Melinda L. Irwin
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  3. Yang Zhou
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  4. Lingeng Lu
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Correspondence to Melinda L. Irwin.

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Arem, H., Irwin, M.L., Zhou, Y. et al. Physical activity and endometrial cancer in a population-based case–control study. Cancer Causes Control 22, 219–226 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9689-0

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