Moderate to vigorous physical activity participation associated with better quality of life among breast and colorectal cancer survivors in Korea

To investigate the association between physical activity (PA) and quality of life (QoL) among breast and colorectal cancer survivors in Korea.

A total of 224 cancer survivors (151 breast and 73 colorectal cancers) who completed treatments were recruited. We measured PA level with Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire and QoL with European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ C-30.

Moderate to vigorous PA was significantly correlated with global QoL (r = .311, p < 0.01), physical functioning (r = .231, p < 0.01), fatigue (r = −.176, p < 0.05), pain (r = −.154, p < 0.05), and dyspnea (r = −.221, p < 0.01) while no correlation was found between light PA and QoL after controlling for potential confounders. When we further divided our participants into four groups by total PA level, we found a strong linear dose-response relationship between higher total PA and better QoL outcomes (p < .001). Compared with participants in the lowest quartile, those in the highest quartile had significantly better score in global QoL (65.8 ± 2.7 vs. 77.6 ± 2.8, p = 0.003), physical functioning (67.2 ± 2.3 vs. 85.3 ± 2.4, p = 0.007), fatigue (35.9 ± 3.2 vs. 23.6 ± 3.2, p = 0.008), pain (22.7 ± 3.3 vs. 13.0 ± 3.4, p = 0.046), and dyspnea (13.7 ± 2.5 vs. 5.9 ± 2.6, p = 0.034).

Higher PA level was associated with better QoL among breast and colorectal cancer survivors in Korea. Increasing PA levels should be included as one of important strategies to improve QoL in cancer survivors.