Abstract
Background: Exercise has been shown to improve quality of life (QoL) in some cancer survivor groups, but it is unknown if the unique QoL issues faced by bladder cancer survivors are also amenable to an exercise intervention. This study provides the first data examining the association between exercise and QoL in bladder cancer survivors.
Methods: Bladder cancer survivors identified through a provincial cancer registry were mailed a survey that included the Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Bladder (FACT-Bl) scale, and the Fatigue Symptom Inventory.
Results: Of the 525 bladder cancer survivors (51% response rate) that completed the survey, 22.3% were meeting public health exercise guidelines in the past month, 16.0% were insufficiently active (i.e., some exercise but less than the guidelines), and 61.7% were completely sedentary. ANOVA indicated a general linear association between meeting guidelines and QoL, with those meeting guidelines reporting more favorable scores than completely sedentary survivors on the FACT-Bl (mean difference, 7.6; 95% confidence interval, 3.6-11.7; P < 0.001), the FACT (P = 0.001), the trial outcome index (P < 0.001), functional well-being (P < 0.001), additional concerns (P = 0.001), sexual functioning (P < 0.001), erectile function (P < 0.001), body image (P < 0.001), and various fatigue indicators (P < 0.05). Adjusting for key medical and demographic factors slightly attenuated the magnitude of the associations but did not alter the substantive conclusions.
Conclusions: Exercise is positively associated with QoL in bladder cancer survivors, although few are meeting public health exercise guidelines. Studies testing the causal effects of exercise on QoL issues unique to this population are warranted. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(5):984–90)
- exercise
- bladder cancer survivors
- quality of life
- survey
Footnotes
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Grant support: University of Alberta-Endowment Fund for the Future Support for the Advancement of Scholarship Small Faculties Research Grant and National Cancer Institute of Canada Research Team Grant with funds from the Canadian Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute of Canada/Canadian Cancer Society Sociobehavioral Cancer Research Network. At the time of this study, K.H. Karvinen was supported by a Health Studentship from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. Canada Research Chairs Program (K.S. Courneya).
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The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
- Accepted February 27, 2007.
- Received August 10, 2006.
- Revision received February 3, 2007.
Volume 16, Issue 5
