A sedentary lifestyle is one of the five cancer risk factors that can be modified, as highlighted by the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), and there is more and more scientific evidence that demonstrates the benefits of physical exercise to prevent this and other diseases, as well as to improve the prognosis of patients who have already been diagnosed, as explained by Javier S. Morales, expert in exercise and childhood cancer and author of ‘Exercise: a wall against cancer’.
Now, new research carried out by specialists from the Department of Physical Activity and Health of the Swedish School of Sports and Health Sciences GIH, in Stockholm, has revealed that men who improve their physical condition and, specifically, achieve an increase in At least 3% annually in your respiratory fitness can reduce your risk of developing prostate cancer by up to 35%.
Cardiorespiratory fitness is a factor that measures how the heart and lungs supply oxygen to the muscles during exercise. The results of the study have been published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) and demonstrate how important it is to try to improve physical condition to prevent this type of cancer, said Kate Bolam, GIH researcher and first author of the work.
Association between physical condition and the development of cancer
Researchers analyzed data from 57,652 men in the Swedish workforce who completed two bicycle fitness tests that measured the amount of oxygen they consumed during vigorous exercise in relation to an assessment of their profile. health at some point between 1982 and 2019.
The data was obtained from the health company HPI, Health Profile Institute. On average, 4.9 years elapsed between the two fitness tests. In addition to the physical fitness test, weight, height and blood pressure were measured, and participants answered questions about their lifestyle and perceived health.
After the last physical fitness test, men were followed in national registries for an average of 6.7 years, and 592 men (1%) developed prostate cancer and 46 (0.08%) died. as a result of prostate cancer. Men who became ill with prostate cancer before the last fitness test were excluded. The participants were also divided into three groups: those whose physical condition deteriorated by 3% or more per year, those whose physical condition increased by 3% or more per year, and those whose physical condition remained stable (-3% to + 3% per year).
Men whose physical condition had improved by 3% or more per year had a 35% lower risk of developing prostate cancer, compared to the group whose physical condition had worsened.
The researchers found that “an annual percentage increase in absolute cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with a 2% lower risk of prostate cancer, but not death, after accounting for potentially influential factors such as age, educational level, the year of the test, weight (BMI) and smoking.” Additionally, those whose physical condition had improved by 3% or more per year had a 35% lower risk of developing prostate cancer, compared to the group whose physical condition had worsened.
“What is novel is that in a large group of men we were able to investigate changes in physical fitness between two repeated measurements and the risk of prostate cancer. In previous studies, physical fitness was usually studied at a certain point in time, and then higher physical fitness often covaried with a higher risk of prostate cancer in particular,” explained Elin Ekblom Bak, associate professor at GIH and another of the authors of the study.
“However, it is important to note that this is a so-called observational study and we cannot establish a cause and effect relationship. An important factor that we have not been able to investigate is the importance of genetics in this context,” concludes Kate Bolam.
