“Weekend warrior” physical activity pattern and risk of incident cancer

• Published in: Annals of medicine (Helsinki) Vol. 57; no. 1; p. 2536198
• Main Authors: López-Bueno, Rubén, Andersen, Lars Louis, López-Bueno, Laura, Suso-Martí, Luis, Núñez-Cortés, Rodrigo, López-Gil, José Francisco, Calatayud, Joaquín
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis Group 31.12.2025
• Subjects: Accelerometry; Adult; Aged; Colorectal Neoplasms - epidemiology; Exercise - physiology; Female; Humans; Incidence; lifestyle; Longevity; Lung Neoplasms - epidemiology; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasms - epidemiology; Neoplasms - prevention & control; oncology; Proportional Hazards Models; Prospective Studies; Prostatic Neoplasms - epidemiology; Risk Factors; Sedentary Behavior; Time Factors; United Kingdom - epidemiology; United Kingdom; oncology; Longevity; lifestyle
• ISSN: 0785-3890; 1365-2060
• DOI: 10.1080/07853890.2025.2536198

To investigate the associations between different physical activity patterns, including "weekend warrior" (WW) (i.e. most weekly moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) achieved over 1-2 days)) and regular (MVPA spread more evenly) patterns with the risk of incident cancers. We analyzed a prospective cohort of participants in the UK Biobank study who supplied a complete week of accelerometer-based physical activity data from June 1, 2013, to December 23, 2015. We compared three physical activity patterns: (1) active weekend warrior (active WW, ≥150 min of weekly MVPA with ≥50% of the total achieved in 1-2 days), (2) active regular (≥150 min of MVPA and not following an active WW pattern), and (3) inactive (<150 MVPA minutes). Associations between physical activity patterns and all types of prostate, breast, colorectal, and lung cancers were investigated through Cox regression adjusted for several factors. Overall, 80 896 participants (mean [SD] age, 55.5 [7.8] years; 56%women) with valid measures of accelerometry were included. When fully adjusted, the two active patterns exhibited a similar significant inverse association with lung cancer (WW: hazard ratio [HR], 0.77 [95% CI, 0.61-0.98]; active regular: 0.73 [95% CI, 0.56-0.96;]; inactive: reference), and similar non-significant associations with overall, prostate, breast, and colorectal cancers. MVPA condensed into 1-2 days and more balanced distributions were associated with similar risk reduction of incident lung cancer, while neither pattern was associated with reduced overall, prostate, breast, and colorectal cancers. Future research should focus on totally inactive subjects to examine cancer risk reduction through MVPA.