Sedentary Behavior and Physical Activity of Community-Dwelling Korean Breast Cancer Survivors: A Nationwide Study

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the contemporary characteristics of sedentary behavior and physical activity levels in breast cancer survivors. The cross-sectional data of 10,073 community-dwelling Korean women aged ≥50 years in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed. The differences in sedentary behavior, walking activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels between breast cancer survivors, other cancer survivors, and women with no history of cancer were compared by complex-sample general linear models. Breast cancer survivors spent significantly less mean time in sedentary behavior than other cancer survivors and women with no history of cancer; however, among them, 48.34% spent a long sedentary time of ≥420 min/day. Breast cancer survivors had a significantly higher level of walking activity and similar total MVPA levels compared to women with no history of cancer. When comparing domain-specific MVPA levels, breast cancer survivors showed significantly lower work-related MVPA levels than women with no history of cancer. In recent years, community-dwelling Korean breast cancer survivors were less sedentary, walked more, and had equivalent MVPA levels compared with women with no history of cancer. Considering the growing emphasis on healthy lifestyles, our results may reflect more contemporary behavior trends of breast cancer survivors.

Keywords: breast neoplasms; exercise; neoplasms; physical fitness; sedentary behavior.

Figure 1

Mean daily time of sedentary behavior in community-dwelling women aged 50 years or older by cancer status. Values are adjusted for age, body mass index, education, occupation, residence, alcohol consumption, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, anemia, cardiovascular disease, and depression.

Figure 2

Mean weekly METs of walking/MVPA in community-dwelling women aged 50 years or older by cancer status. Values are adjusted for age, body mass index, education, occupation, residence, alcohol consumption, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, anemia, cardiovascular disease, and depression. MVPA, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity; MET, metabolic equivalent of task.