Abstract
Background:
Physical activity has been associated with longer chronic disease-free life expectancy, but specific cancer types have not been investigated. We examined whether leisure-time moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (LTPA) and television (TV) viewing were associated with life expectancy cancer-free.
Methods:
We included 14,508 participants without a cancer history from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. We used multistate survival models to separately examine associations of LTPA (no LTPA, < median, >= median) and TV viewing (seldom/never, sometimes, often/very often) with life expectancy cancer-free at age 50 from invasive colorectal, lung, prostate, and postmenopausal breast cancer. Models were adjusted for age, gender, race, ARIC center, education, smoking, and alcohol intake.
Results:
Compared to no LTPA, participants who engaged in LTPA >= median had a greater life expectancy cancer-free from colorectal (men-2.2 years (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7, 2.7), women-2.3 years (95% CI 1.7, 2.8)), lung (men-2.1 years (95% CI 1.5, 2.6), women-2.1 years (95% CI 1.6, 2.7)), prostate (1.5 years (95% CI 0.8, 2.2)), and postmenopausal breast cancer (2.4 years (95% CI 1.4, 3.3)). Compared to watching TV often/very often, participants who seldom/never watched TV had a greater colorectal, lung, and postmenopausal breast cancer-free life expectancy of ~1 year.
Conclusions:
Participating in LTPA was associated with longer life expectancy cancer-free from colorectal, lung, prostate, and postmenopausal breast cancer. Viewing less TV was associated with more years lived cancer-free from colorectal, lung, and postmenopausal breast cancer.
Impact:
Increasing physical activity and reducing TV viewing may extend the number of years lived cancer-free.
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