Associations of Physical Activity and Handgrip Strength with Different Domains of Quality of Life in Pediatric Cancer Survivors.

Abstract

Simple SummaryPhysical activity has been targeted as a leading priority for health promotion in pediatric survivorship care. It is unclear whether regular physical activity can enhance the quality of life among Chinese pediatric cancer survivors. We researched this question in our study of 191 survivors of pediatric cancer. We found that the survivors who engaged in higher levels of physical activity reported higher scores across all domains of quality of life (i.e., physical, emotional, social, and school functioning). We also observed that the survivors with higher PA levels exhibited greater handgrip strength than the survivors with lower PA levels. Notably, the survivors with greater handgrip strength also had better physical and emotional functioning.There is a paucity of evidence about the associations of physical activity (PA) and handgrip strength (HGS) within different domains of quality of life (QoL) in Chinese pediatric cancer survivors. We, therefore, conducted this multicenter cross-sectional study aimed to investigate whether increased PA level and HGS are associated with higher scores in different QoL domains (i.e., physical, emotional, social, and school functioning) in pediatric cancer survivors. PA was assessed with a validated self-reported PA rating scale. In total, 191 Chinese pediatric cancer survivors aged 9 to 16 years were included in the analysis. Results showed that engaging in a higher level of PA was significantly associated with improved QoL in different domains, including physical (β = 0.543, p < 0.001), emotional (β = 0.449, p < 0.001), social (β = 0.434, p < 0.001), and school functioning (β = 0.407, p < 0.001). Greater HGS was also associated with better physical (β = 0.230, p ≤ 0.001) and emotional (β = 0.261, p ≤ 0.001) functioning. Findings from this study provide evidence of the significant beneficial impact of regular PA on pediatric cancer survivors’ QoL along their survivorship trajectory.