Physical Activity and Survival among Men Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer

Background: Few studies have investigated the association between post-diagnosis physical activity and mortality among men diagnosed with prostate cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of physical activity after a prostate cancer diagnosis on both overall and prostate cancer-specific mortality in a large cohort. Methods: Data from 4,623 men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer 1997-2002 and followed-up until 2012 were analyzed. HRs with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models to examine the association between post-diagnosis recreational MET-h/d, time spent walking/bicycling, performing household work or exercising, and time to overall and prostate cancer-specific death. All models were adjusted for potential confounders. Results: During the follow-up, 561 deaths of any cause and 194 deaths from prostate cancer occurred. Statistically significantly lower overall mortality rates were found among men engaged in 5 recreationalMET-h/d (HR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.52-0.77), walking/ bicycling 20 min/d (HR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.57-0.86), performing householdwork > 1 h/d (HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.59-0.86), or exercising > 1 h/wk (HR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.61-0.90), compared with less active men within each activity type. For prostate cancer-specific mortality, statistically significantly lower mortality rates were seen among men walking/bicycling >= 20 min/d (HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.43-0.87) or exercising 1 h/wk (HR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.48-0.94). Conclusions: Higher levels of physical activity were associated with reduced rates of overall and prostate cancer-specific mortality. Impact: Our study further strengthens previous results indicating beneficial effects of physical activity on survival among men with prostate cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 24(1); 57-64. (C) 2014 AACR.