Moat are aware that physical fitness can improve cardiovascular health. Now a large new study has reported that men with a high level of cardiovascular fitness may have a decreased risk of developing lung or colon cancer, and if they did develop cancer, they were less likely to die from it. The findings might also apply to women who work on their physical fitness. The findings were published online on March 26 in the journal JAMA Oncology by researchers at the University of Vermont.
The study authors note that it has been well established that cardiorespiratory fitness reduces the risk of cardiovascular as well as all-cause mortality (death from any cause). However, the value of cardiorespiratory fitness prediction of primary cancer risk has not been well studies. They note that cardiovascular disease and cancer account for most deaths in the US, and that these diseases share common risk factors such as smoking, poor diet, and inadequate physical activity. The authors explain that the powerful value of cardiorespiratory fitness for the prediction of cardiovascular disease indicates that such a measure may also be of importance for the prediction of the primary risk of cancer. Therefore, they conducted a study to examine the association between midlife cardiorespiratory function and both developing cancer and surviving after a cancer diagnosis.
The study group comprised 13,949 who underwent a baseline fitness examination; the study was conducted at a preventive medicine clinic. All subjects completed a comprehensive medical examination, a cardiovascular risk factor assessment, and an incremental treadmill exercise test to evaluate their cardiorespiratory fitness. The following factors were measured: age, examination year, body mass index (BMI), smoking, total cholesterol level, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, and fasting glucose level. Cardiorespiratory fitness levels were evaluated from 1971 to 2009, and lung, prostate, and colorectal cancer using Medicare Parts A and B claims data from 1999 to 2009; the analysis was conducted in 2014.
The investigators found that, compared to men with low cardiorespiratory fitness, the risk of lung cancer was reduced by 55% and the risk of colorectal cancer was reduced by 44%; however, the risk of prostate cancer was increased by 22%. Among men diagnosed with cancer at Medicare age, high cardiorespiratory fitness in midlife was associated with a 32% risk reduction in all cancer-related deaths and a 68% reduction in cardiovascular disease mortality following a cancer diagnosis, compared to men with low cardiorespiratory fitness in midlife.
The authors concluded that there was an inverse association between midlife cardiorespiratory fitness and lung and colorectal cancer; however, there was no reduced risk of developing prostate cancer. Thus, the study suggested that high midlife cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with lower risk of cause-specific mortality in men diagnosed as having cancer at Medicare age.
Take home message:
As previously mentioned, although the study was conducted on men, the results may be applicable to women. A possible explanation for the decreased risk of lung and colorectal cancer, but not prostate cancer is that individuals interested who maintain physical fitness are less likely to smoke and consume an unhealthy diet. Prostate cancer is not necessarily related to smoking or unhealthy diet.