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Cardiovascular disease and physical activity in adult cancer survivors: a nested, retrospective study from the Atlantic PATH cohort

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Abstract

Purpose

The study aimed to examine the relationship between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and physical activity (PA) levels in cancer survivors (CS).

Methods

Using a nested, retrospective follow-up design, this study presents the self-reported prevalence of CVD in an Atlantic Canadian population-based cohort of 1526 CS and 6034 age-sex matched, non-cancer controls ranging from 35 to 69 years of age. Univariate and multiple logistic regression models were used to explore the association between CVD and PA.

Results

Overall, CS were 30% more likely to have ever experienced a CVD event than controls (OR = 1.3; 95% CI 1–1.7, p = .07). Survivors were also significantly more likely to report having hypertension (OR = 1.60; 95% CI 1.03–1.3, p = .02) and diabetes (OR = 1.27; 95% CI 1.03–1.16, p = .02). Compared to controls, CS were significantly less likely to engage in high levels of PA. For survivors, compared to those who were least physically active, the odds of having a CVD risk factor was 35% lower for those who were moderately active (OR = 0.65; 95% CI 0.48–0.88) and 45% lower in the most highly active group (OR = 0.55; 95% CI 0.4–0.73). For controls, the odds of having a CVD risk factor was 25% lower for those in the moderately active group (OR = 0.75; 95% CI 0.64–0.88) and 30% lower for those in the high active group (OR = 0.70; 95% CI 0.6–0.81).

Conclusion

Low active survivors appear to be at a high risk of CVD-related comorbidity.

Implications for cancer survivors

PA is associated with lower CVD-related comorbidity in CS, suggesting that interventions directed at increasing PA should be implemented to improve long-term health outcomes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding from the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University, 6230 South Street, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada

    Melanie R. Keats & Scott A. Grandy

  2. Population Cancer Research Program, Dalhousie University, 1494 Carlton Street, Halifax, NS, B3H 3B7, Canada

    Yunsong Cui & Louise Parker

Authors
  1. Melanie R. Keats
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  2. Yunsong Cui
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  3. Scott A. Grandy
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  4. Louise Parker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melanie R. Keats.

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Funding

Atlantic PATH is part of the Canadian Partnership for the Tomorrow Project funded by the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. The opinions, results, and conclusions reported in this paper are those of the authors.

Conflict of interest

Melanie Keats, Yunsong Cui, Scott Grandy, and Louise Parker all declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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. Informed consent was obtained from participants at the time of original study enrollment.

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Keats, M.R., Cui, Y., Grandy, S.A. et al. Cardiovascular disease and physical activity in adult cancer survivors: a nested, retrospective study from the Atlantic PATH cohort. J Cancer Surviv 11, 264–273 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-016-0584-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-016-0584-x

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