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The association between life satisfaction, vitality, self-rated health, and risk of cancer

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Abstract

Purpose

Only few prospective studies have been conducted on the contribution of quality of life-related factors to the risk of cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the prospective associations of three quality of life-related factors with the risk of cancer; life satisfaction, vitality, and self-rated health.

Methods

In 2009–2011, 7189 participants in the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank were asked to rate their life satisfaction, their vitality, and their health. The study population was followed until the end of 2015 for registration of cancer in the Danish National Patient Register.

Results

During the follow-up period, cancer was diagnosed in 312 individuals. Life satisfaction was not associated with the risk of cancer. Vitality was significantly associated with the risk of cancer, but the association became non-significant after adjustment for age, sex, socioeconomic position, and lifestyle factors. However, when additionally adjusting for life satisfaction, individuals who rated their vitality as low had a hazard ratio of 1.46 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04–2.07) for the development of cancer. Individuals who rated their health as poor had a hazard ratio of 1.70 (95% CI 1.27–2.26) for the development of cancer, compared with individuals with good, very good, or excellent self-rated health. The association remained significant after adjustment for basic confounders, life satisfaction, and vitality.

Conclusion

A better grasp of the significance of quality of life-related factors for the risk of cancer may be of great importance to population-based cancer prevention that aims to target early risk factors for development of cancer across widespread cancer sites.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank (A) L. Villumsen and (B) Zachau-Christiansen for their role in the establishment of the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort and the steering committee for permission to conduct this study. Furthermore, we thank Kirsten Avlund, Helle Bruunsgaard, Nils-Erik Fiehn, Åse Marie Hansen, Poul Holm-Pedersen, Rikke Lund, Erik Lykke Mortensen and Merete Osler, who initiated and established the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank (CAMB). We also thank the staff at the Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, and the staff at the National Research Centre for the Working Environment, who undertook the CAMB data collection.

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from IMK Almene Fond to Trine Flensborg-Madsen. The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Studiestraede 6, 1455, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Anna Paldam Folker

  2. Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 5, P.O. Box 2099, 1014, Copenhagen K, Denmark

    Emilie Rune Hegelund, Erik Lykke Mortensen, Cathrine Lawaetz Wimmelmann & Trine Flensborg-Madsen

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  1. Anna Paldam Folker
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  2. Emilie Rune Hegelund
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Correspondence to Anna Paldam Folker.

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Conflict of interest

The article has not been submitted elsewhere or published previously and the authors have no relationships that might lead to conflicts of interest. All authors have read the final version of the manuscript; they meet the requirements for authorship and believe that the manuscript represents honest work.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the 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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Folker, A.P., Hegelund, E.R., Mortensen, E.L. et al. The association between life satisfaction, vitality, self-rated health, and risk of cancer. Qual Life Res 28, 947–954 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-2083-1

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