Fitness level impacts cancer risk and outcomes

In a recent study, researchers have revealed that fit adults have the lowest risk of developing lung and colorectal cancer. Also, individuals who developed the cancers, those who had high fitness levels before their cancer diagnosis, were less likely to die compared with those who had low fitness levels.

The study was published in the journal CANCER.

There is limited data on the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and lung and colorectal cancer risk and mortality.

To investigate, researcher Dr Catherine Handy Marshall and her colleagues studied 49,143 adults who underwent exercise stress testing from 1991-2009 and were followed for a median of 7.7 years.

The study represented the largest of its kind, as well as the first of its kind, to involve women and a large percentage of non-white individuals.

Those in the highest fitness category had a 77 per cent decreased risk of developing lung cancer and a 61 per cent decreased risk of developing colorectal cancer.

Among individuals who developed lung cancer, those with the highest fitness had a 44 per cent decreased risk of dying during follow-up; and among adults who developed colorectal cancer, those with the highest fitness had an 89 per cent decreased risk.

"Our findings are one of the first, largest, and most diverse cohorts to look at the impact of fitness on cancer outcomes," said Dr Marshall.

"Fitness testing is commonly done today for many people in conjunction with their doctors. Many people might already have these results and can be informed about the association of fitness with cancer risk in addition to what fitness levels mean for other conditions, like heart disease," she added.

Additional studies are needed to expand on these results and to determine if improving fitness can influence risk and mortality rates of cancer.