Meeting or Exceeding Physical Activity Guidelines is Associated with Reduced Risk for Cancer in Mexican-Americans.

Shenghui Wu,Susan P Fisher-Hoch,Belinda Reninger,Joseph B Mccormick

doi:10.12691/ajcp-4-1-1

Abstract

Epidemiologic studies have shown that inadequate physical activity was associated with cancers in whites and other ethnic groups, but in Mexican-Americans data are limited. This study aimed to measure the association between physical activity and reported cancer risk in Mexican-Americans. Participants were drawn from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (n=3,391), a randomly selected Mexican-American cohort in Texas on the US-Mexico border. Physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Cancer was self-reported by the participants as being told by a health care provider that they had cancer. Ninety-nine participants of the cohort (2.94%) reported a diagnosis of cancer. Compared to participants who did not meet US physical activity guidelines, subjects who met physical activity guidelines of 150 moderate and vigorous minutes per week (≥ 600 METs) reduced their risk for cancer by 87% (OR=0.13; 95% CI: 0.03-0.54), and subjects with total minutes per week of moderate and vigorous/strenuous activity greater than 745 METs decreased cancer risk by 86% [odds ratio (OR)=0.14; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.03-0.60] comparing with their counterparts, after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, smoking and alcohol drinking status, education and total portions of fruit and vegetable intake. Meeting or exceeding recommended levels of moderate and vigorous physical activity was associated with a significantly reduced risk of reporting cancer by Mexican-Americans. Meeting or exceeding recommended levels of physical activity appears to be an effective target for cancer prevention and control among Mexican-Americans independent of BMI and other factors.

Highlights

According to the US Census Bureau, 50.5 million Americans, or 16% of the total US population, identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino in 2010 [1,2]
In a Mexican-American cohort, subjects with total minutes per week of moderate and vigorous/strenuous activity greater than 745 METs reduced cancer risk by 87%, and subjects who met physical activity guidelines of 150 moderate and vigorous minutes per week (≥ 600 METs) reduced cancer risk by 86% compared with their corresponding counterparts, after adjusting for age, gender, Body mass index (BMI), smoking and alcohol drinking status, education and total portions of fruit and vegetable intake
These data strongly indicate the potential for physical activity to have a profound effect on reported cancer risk, and they are all the more striking because there appears to be a dose effect with exceeding the guidelines being associated with even lower cancer risk

Summary

Introduction

According to the US Census Bureau, 50.5 million Americans, or 16% of the total US population, identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino in 2010 [1,2]. One case-control study [5] found a significant protective effect of physical activity on breast cancer risk among Hispanic women. High levels of total non-occupational activity around the time of diagnosis reduced 71% of breast cancer risk among Hispanic premenopausal women, but not among non-Hispanic whites [5]. Another case-control study reported a non-significant protective effect of physical activity on breast cancer risk in Hispanic women [6]. Another case-control study showed that physical activity decreased the risk for endometrial cancer by 53%. Meeting or exceeding recommended levels of physical activity appears to be an effective target for cancer prevention and control among Mexican-Americans independent of BMI and other factors

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