Journal
CANCER CAUSES & CONTROL
Volume 32, Issue 11, Pages 1197-1212Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10552-021-01466-6
Keywords
Physical activity; Testosterone; IGF-I; SHBG; Accelerometer; UK Biobank
Funding
- Cancer Research UK [C8221/A19170, C8221/A29017]
- Nuffield Department of Population Health Early Career Research Fellowship
- Cancer Research UK Population Research Fellowship [C60192/A28516]
- World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF UK), as part of the Word Cancer Research Fund International grant programme [2019/1953]
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)
- Alan Turing Institute
- British Heart Foundation [SP/18/4/33803]
- Health Data Research UK - UK Research and Innovation, Department of Health and Social Care (England)
- Girdlers' New Zealand Health Research Council Fellowship [19/031]
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The study found modest associations between physical activity and hormones, with the relationships largely attenuated after adjustment for BMI, suggesting that changes in these circulating hormones are unlikely to explain the associations of physical activity with cancer risk independently or via BMI.
Purpose Physical activity may reduce the risk of some types of cancer in men. Biological mechanisms may involve changes in hormone concentrations; however, this relationship is not well established. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the associations of physical activity with circulating insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG, which modifies sex hormone activity), and total and free testosterone concentrations, and the extent these associations might be mediated by body mass index (BMI). Methods Circulating concentrations of these hormones and anthropometric measurements and self-reported physical activity data were available for 117,100 healthy male UK Biobank participants at recruitment. Objectively measured accelerometer physical activity levels were also collected on average 5.7 years after recruitment in 28,000 men. Geometric means of hormone concentrations were estimated using multivariable-adjusted analysis of variance, with and without adjustment for BMI. Results The associations between physical activity and hormones were modest and similar for objectively measured (accelerometer) and self-reported physical activity. Compared to men with the lowest objectively measured physical activity, men with high physical activity levels had 14% and 8% higher concentrations of SHBG and total testosterone, respectively, and these differences were attenuated to 6% and 3% following adjustment for BMI. Conclusion Our results suggest that the associations of physical activity with the hormones investigated are, at most, modest; and following adjustment for BMI, the small associations with SHBG and total testosterone were largely attenuated. Therefore, it is unlikely that changes in these circulating hormones explain the associations of physical activity with risk of cancer either independently or via BMI.
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