Physical Activity Level and Profile of Patients with Cancer

Background: Each year cancer rates increases all around the world. Dates of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), estimated for 2030 a growth of 21.7 million new cases and around 13 million deaths (GLOBOCAN, 2012). It is known that lifestyle behaviors such as poor nutrition, smoking and physical inactivity can contribute significantly for developing certain types of cancer (KHAN; AFAQ; MUKHTAR, 2010). It has been suggested that physical activity can act as a nonpharmacologic therapy to improve cardiovascular fitness, quality of life (QUIST et al., 2012), strength and decreased fatigue (CANTARERO-VILLANUEVA et al., 2013). However, physical activity levels of patients tend to decline after the diagnoses (HUSEBO et al., 2017) and in many cities the hospitals did not include such practice.

Aims: To evaluate the physical activity (PA) level of patients with cancer.

Methods: It is a cross-sectional and descriptive research, with simple random sampling (N=153) from outpatient cancer clinics in two hospitals at Piracicaba SP, Brazil. The inclusion criteria for this study was previous or ongoing treatment for cancer. Data were collected during patients waiting time to receive medical care. Questions included demographic characteristics and level of physical activities evaluated through the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ).

Results: A total of 127 patients met the inclusion criteria established in this study, with an average age of 59.34±13.41 years, 75 (59.1%) females and 52 (40.9%) males. Seventy-one (55.9%) of the patients were included in the study during post-treatment care, 30 (23.6%) were undergoing chemotherapy, eighteen (14.2%) were undergoing radiotherapy and eight (6.3%) came to an appointment. The cancer types were breast cancer (26.8%); prostate (14.2%); gastrointestinal cancer (12; 9.4%); leukemia (11; 8.7%); head and neck (11; 8.7%); lymphoma (10; 7.9%); others types (24.4%). The mean score obtained by the IPAQ were 1280.2 Met’s-minute/week, with a high standard deviation of 3849.78 Met’s-minute/week. The majority of patients had a low level of PA (70%) and 22.86% did not report any PA. Among the types of cancers included in the current survey, the highest levels of PA were performed by breast cancer patients (15%), prostate (6%) and lymphoma (10%). The lowest levels of PA were performed by head and neck cancers (91%) and gastrointestinal (83%).

Discussion: According to the present results, the patients with cancer in general had low levels of PA, which may vary between the types of cancers.

Conclusion: More studies are needed to check why the patients have not taken part in physical activities or in programs that benefit and encourage patients to increase their PA levels. Public policies are needed to provide places that can offer such activities with all the care it is needed.