Associations of steps per day and step intensity with the risk of cancer: Findings from the Women's health Accelerometry collaboration cohort

Menée à partir de données portant sur 22 000 femmes (âge moyen : 73,4 ans ; durée moyenne de suivi : 7,9 ans), cette étude analyse l'association entre le nombre de pas par jour, la cadence de la marche et le risque de cancer par localisation

Preventive Medicine, sous presse, 2024, résumé

Résumé en anglais

Objective: Accumulating more steps/day is associated with a lower risk of cancer mortality and composite cancer outcomes. However, less is known about the relationship of steps/day with the risk of multiple site-specific cancers.

Methods: This study included >22,000 women from the Women's Health Accelerometry Collaboration Cohort (2011−2022), comprised of women from the Women's Health Study and Women's Health Initiative Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health Study. Steps/day and step intensity were collected with accelerometry. Incident cancer cases and deaths were adjudicated. Stratified Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of the associations of steps/day and step intensity with incident breast, colon, endometrial, lung, and ovarian cancers, a composite of 13 physical activity-related cancers, total invasive cancer, and fatal cancer.

Results: On average, women were 73.4 years old, accumulated 4993 steps/day, and had 7.9 years of follow-up. There were small nonsignificant inverse associations with the risks of colon cancer (HR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.83, 1.05), endometrial cancer (HR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.82, 1.01), and fatal cancer (HR = 0.95 95% CI: 0.90, 1.00) per 1000 steps/day. More minutes at ≥40 steps/min and a faster peak 10- and 30-min step cadence were associated with a lower risk of endometrial cancer, but findings were attenuated after adjustment for body mass index and steps/day.

Conclusions: Among women 62–97 years, there were small nonsignificant inverse associations of colon, endometrial, and fatal cancer with more steps/day. Epidemiologic studies with longer follow-up and updated assessments are needed to further explore these associations.