Domain-specific physical activity and the risk of colorectal cancer: results from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study

• Published in: BMC cancer Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 1063 - 9
• Main Authors: Mahmood, Shahid, English, Dallas R., MacInnis, Robert J., Karahalios, Amalia, Owen, Neville, Milne, Roger L., Giles, Graham G., Lynch, Brigid M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 03.11.2018; BioMed Central Ltd; BMC
• Subjects: Australia - epidemiology; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cancer Research; Cohort analysis; Cohort Studies; Collaboration; Colon; Colorectal cancer; Colorectal carcinoma; Colorectal Neoplasms - epidemiology; Colorectal Neoplasms - etiology; Domain-specific physical activity; Epidemiology; Exercise; Female; Hazard ratio; Health aspects; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Health risk assessment; Households; Humans; Insulin resistance; Insulin-like growth factors; Invasiveness; Lifestyles; Male; Medicine/Public Health; Middle age; Older people; Oncology; Physical activity; Physical fitness; Population Surveillance; prevention and public health; Proportional Hazards Models; Public health; Questionnaires; Recreation; Registries; Research Article; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors; Sociodemographics; Studies; Surgical Oncology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Survival analysis; Australia; China; Domain-specific physical activity; Survival analysis; Exercise; Colon; Hazard ratio
• ISSN: 1471-2407; 1471-2407
• DOI: 10.1186/s12885-018-4961-x

Background Physical activity reduces the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), but the relevant evidence derives primarily from self-reported recreational and occupational activity. Less is known about the contribution of other domains of physical activity, such as transport and household. We examined associations between domain-specific physical activities and CRC risk within the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study. Methods Analyses included 23,586 participants who were free from invasive colorectal cancer and had completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Long Form at follow-up 2 (2003–2007). Cox regression, with age as the time metric, was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for ordinal categories of each physical activity domain. Results Adjusted HRs for the highest versus the lowest categories of physical activity were 0.71 (95% CI: 0.51–0.98; p trend  = 0.03) for recreational activity; 0.80 (95% CI: 0.49–1.28; p trend  = 0.38) for occupational activity; 0.90 (95% CI: 0.68–1.19; p trend  = 0.20) for transport activity; and 1.07 (95% CI: 0.82–1.40; p trend  = 0.46) for household activity. Conclusions Recreational activity was associated with reduced CRC risk. A non-significant, inverse association was observed for occupational activity, whereas no association was found for transport or household domains.