The association of lifetime physical inactivity with bladder and renal cancer risk: A hospital-based case-control analysis

Recreational physical inactivity has been gaining recognition as an independent epidemiological exposure of interest in relation to cancer endpoints due to evidence suggesting that it may associate with cancer independent of obesity. In the current analyses, we examined the associations of lifetime recreational physical inactivity with renal and bladder cancer risk.

In this hospital-based case-control study, we identified N=160 renal cancer patients, N=208 bladder cancer patients, and N=766 age frequency-matched controls without cancer. Participants self-reporting never participating in any regular/weekly recreational physical activity throughout their lifetime were classified as physically inactive. Utilizing unconditional multivariable logistic regression analyses, we estimated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals to represent the associations between lifetime physical inactivity and renal and bladder cancer risk.

In multivariable logistic regression models, we observed significant positive associations between lifetime recreational physical inactivity and renal cancer and bladder cancer risk: odds ratio=1.77 (95% CI: 1.10-2.85) and odds ratio=1.73 (95% CI: 1.13-2.63), respectively. Similar associations also persisted among individuals who were not obese for both renal and bladder cancer: odds ratio=1.75 (95% CI: 1.03-2.98) and odds ratio=1.70 (95% CI: 1.08-2.69), respectively.

In this case-control study, we observed evidence of a positive association between renal and bladder cancer with lifetime recreational physical inactivity. These data add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that physical inactivity may be an important independent risk factor for cancer. However, additional studies using a larger sample and prospectively collected data are needed to substantiate the current findings.

Cancer epidemiology. 2017 May 18 [Epub ahead of print]

Rikki Cannioto, John Lewis Etter, Lauren Beryl Guterman, Janine M Joseph, Nicholas R Gulati, Kristina L Schmitt, Michael J LaMonte, Ryan Nagy, Albina Minlikeeva, James Brian Szender, Kirsten B Moysich

Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, NY 14263, United States., Department of Epidemiology, Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States., Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623, United States., College of Medicine, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Erie PA 16509, United States., Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14214, United States., Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, NY 14263, United States; Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14214, United States., Department of Gynecologic Oncology,Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, 14263, United States., Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, NY 14263, United States. Electronic address: .