As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Brown et al, a prospective cohort study nested within the phase III CALGB/SWOG 80702/Alliance trial showed that greater volumes of physical activity in patients receiving adjuvant therapy for stage III colon cancer were associated with significant improvements in disease-free survival.
Study Details
In the trial, 2,524 patients were randomly assigned between June 2010 and November 2015 to adjuvant therapy with 3 vs 6 months of fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin with or without celecoxib. A total of 1,696 patients were enrolled in the nested cohort of diet and lifestyle study. Recreational physical activity was measured in the first 3 months of chemotherapy and at 6 months after completion of chemotherapy.
Among patients with stage III colon cancer enrolled in a trial of postoperative treatment, larger volumes of recreational physical activity, longer durations of light- to moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, or any vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity were associated with the greatest improvements in disease-free survival.— Brown et al
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Key Findings
During a median follow-up of 5.9 years, 457 of the 1,696 patients experienced disease recurrence or death.
For total recreational physical activity volume, 3-year disease-free survival was 76.5% with fewer than 3.0 metabolic equivalent task hours per week (MET-h/wk; n = 486) vs 87.1% with at least 18.0 MET-h/wk (n = 483; risk difference = 10.6%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.7%–19.4%, P < .001).
For light-intensity to moderate-intensity activities, 3-year disease-free survival was 65.7% with 0.0 h/wk (n = 80) vs 87.1% with at least 1.5 h/wk (n = 722; risk difference = 21.4%, 95% CI = 9.2%–37.1%, P < .001).
For vigorous-intensity activity, 3-year disease-free survival was 76.0% with 0.0 h/wk (n = 657) vs 86.0% with at least 1.0 h/wk (n = 516; risk difference = 10.0%, 95% CI = 4.5%–18.9%, P < .001).
For brisk walking, 3-year disease-free survival was 81.7% with fewer than 1.0 h/wk (n = 902) vs 88.4% with at least 3.0 h/wk (n = 335; risk difference = 6.7%, 95% CI = 3.0%–13.8%, P < .001).
For muscle-strengthening activity, 3-year disease-free survival was 81.8% with 0.0 h/wk (n = 1,270) vs 88.8% for at least 0.5 h/wk (n = 209; risk difference = 7.0%, 95% CI = 3.1%–14.2%, P = .003).
The investigators concluded: “Among patients with stage III colon cancer enrolled in a trial of postoperative treatment, larger volumes of recreational physical activity, longer durations of light- to moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, or any vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity were associated with the greatest improvements in disease-free survival.”
Justin C. Brown, PhD, of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Department of Cancer Energetics, is the corresponding author of the Journal of Clinical Oncology article.
Disclosure: The study was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and others. For full disclosures of the study authors, visit ascopubs.org.
