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Change patterns and determinants of physical activity differ between breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer patients

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare pre- to post-diagnosis change patterns of physical activity (PA) among breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer patients. Moreover, the study aimed to investigate sociodemographic and medical determinants of post-diagnosis PA and to identify patient subgroups at increased risk of inactivity.

Methods

A total of 912 cancer patients (457 breast, 241 prostate, 214 colorectal cancer) completed a questionnaire assessing their pre- and post-diagnosis PA behavior, and sociodemographic and medical variables. Age-adjusted regression and classification tree analyses were used to investigate PA determinants and detect subgroups that were most likely to meet or not meet PA guidelines.

Results

Across cancer types, we found that PA yet decreased from pre- to post-diagnosis, but that 54.1% of participants still reported to be meeting PA guidelines after the diagnosis. While post-diagnosis PA was strongly affected by previous PA behavior among individuals of all patient groups, other sociodemographic and medical determinants played different roles depending on cancer type. The results yielded that previously active, longer diagnosed patients with higher education levels were most likely to be meeting PA guidelines post-diagnosis, whereas specifically previously inactive prostate cancer patients had an increased likelihood of insufficient activity.

Conclusions

An encouragingly high number of cancer patients indicated sufficient PA levels. For those having difficulties to maintain or adopt PA post-diagnosis, interventions should be tailored to the specific characteristics of each cancer type, as different factors are associated with PA for each patient group.

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Notes

  1. Note that no differentiation was made between aerobic and muscle-strengthening exercises.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Fiona Rupprecht, Lena Radke, Nina Immel, Sara Kuru, Sophie Madlinger, Elisa Ebler, and Xenia Peukert for their help in the recruitment, coding procedure, and data management.

Funding

This study was part of the Momentum Project that has been supported by a grant from the German Cancer Aid (Grant No. 110512, 110551, and 111223).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Physical Activity, Prevention and Cancer, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 581, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Karen Steindorf, Johanna Depenbusch & Alexander Haussmann

  2. Medical Faculty, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 672, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Johanna Depenbusch

  3. Institute of Psychology, Heidelberg University, Hauptstraße 47-51, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany

    Alexander Haussmann, Laura Schmidt, Monika Sieverding & Nadine Ungar

  4. Division of Medical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg and University Clinic Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 460, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Angeliki Tsiouris & Joachim Wiskemann

  5. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Untere Zahlbacher Straße 8, 55131, Mainz, Germany

    Angeliki Tsiouris

  6. Epidemiological Cancer Registry Baden-Württemberg, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 581, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Silke Hermann

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  1. Karen Steindorf
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Correspondence to Karen Steindorf.

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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 all individual participants included in the study. The authors declare that they have full control of all primary data and that they agree to allow the journal to review our data.

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Karen Steindorf and Johanna Depenbusch shared first authorship and Joachim Wiskemann and Nadine Ungar shared last authorship.

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Steindorf, K., Depenbusch, J., Haussmann, A. et al. Change patterns and determinants of physical activity differ between breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer patients. Support Care Cancer 28, 3207–3218 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-019-05097-1

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