Sedentary behavior and physical activity one year after colorectal cancer diagnosis: results from the ColoCare Study

Richard H Viskochil^{1

2

3}, Tengda Lin¹, Biljana Gigic⁴, Caroline Himbert^{1

3

5

6}, Victoria M Bandera^{1

3}, Stephanie Skender^{7

8}, Andreana N Holowatyj^{3

9

10}, Petra Schrotz-King^{7

8}, Karen Steindorf¹¹, Ildiko Strehli^{1

3}, Matthew G Mutch¹², Dante Chao¹³, Adetunji T Toriola¹⁴, David Shibata¹⁵, Erin M Siegel¹⁶, Christopher I Li¹⁷, Sheetal Hardikar^{1

3}, Anita R Peoples^{1

3}, Jane C Figueiredo¹⁸, Martin Schneider^{4

19}, Cornelia M Ulrich^{1

3}, Jennifer Ose^{20

21

22}

Affiliations

¹ Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
² University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
⁴ Department of General, Visceral, and Transplantation Surgery, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ National Center for Tumor Diseases , (NCT), Heidelberg, Germany.
⁸ Division of Preventive Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
⁹ Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹⁰ Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹¹ Division of Physical Activity, Prevention and Cancer, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
¹² Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine , St. Louis, MO, USA.
¹³ Division of Public Health Science, Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine and Siteman Cancer Center St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
¹⁴ Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
¹⁶ Cancer Epidemiology Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA.
¹⁷ Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹⁸ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁹ Department of General, Visceral, Thoracic, Transplantation and Pediatric Surgery, Giessen University Hospital, Giessen, Germany.
²⁰ Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. jennifer.ose@hs-hannover.de.
²¹ Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. jennifer.ose@hs-hannover.de.
²² Department of Media, Information and Design, University of Applied Sciences and the Arts, Hannover, Germany. jennifer.ose@hs-hannover.de.

PMID: 39985691
DOI: 10.1007/s11764-025-01756-x

Sedentary behavior and physical activity one year after colorectal cancer diagnosis: results from the ColoCare Study

Richard H Viskochil et al. J Cancer Surviv. 2025.

. 2025 Feb 22.

doi: 10.1007/s11764-025-01756-x. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
² University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
⁴ Department of General, Visceral, and Transplantation Surgery, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁵ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ National Center for Tumor Diseases , (NCT), Heidelberg, Germany.
⁸ Division of Preventive Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
⁹ Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹⁰ Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
¹¹ Division of Physical Activity, Prevention and Cancer, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
¹² Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine , St. Louis, MO, USA.
¹³ Division of Public Health Science, Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine and Siteman Cancer Center St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
¹⁴ Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Surgery, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
¹⁶ Cancer Epidemiology Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA.
¹⁷ Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹⁸ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁹ Department of General, Visceral, Thoracic, Transplantation and Pediatric Surgery, Giessen University Hospital, Giessen, Germany.
²⁰ Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. jennifer.ose@hs-hannover.de.
²¹ Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. jennifer.ose@hs-hannover.de.
²² Department of Media, Information and Design, University of Applied Sciences and the Arts, Hannover, Germany. jennifer.ose@hs-hannover.de.

PMID: 39985691
DOI: 10.1007/s11764-025-01756-x

Abstract

Purpose: Physical activity plays key roles in colorectal cancer survivorship; however, the impact of different clinicodemographic outcomes on cross-sectional and longitudinal objectively measured physical activity 12 and 24 months post-diagnosis are unclear.

Methods: ColoCare study participants (n = 165) wore an Actigraph GT3x accelerometer for 4-10 consecutive days to objectively assess activity levels 12 and 24 months after colorectal cancer diagnosis and resection. Associations between these clinical/demographic exposures and physical activity outcomes and longitudinal changes were determined using t-test, ANOVA F-test, and linear regression modeling, adjusting for common confounders (e.g., sex, age, stage).

Results: Key physical activity and sedentary behavior variables significantly differed by demographic status, including minutes of weekly exercise by sex and age (age < 50: 364 min ± 303 min; age 50-70: 232 min ± 263 min; age > 70: 93 min ± 135 min, p < 0.001) and (%) daily sedentary time by age (age < 50: 64 ± 10%; age 50-70: 67 ± 7%; age > 70: 71 ± 7%, p = 0.003). Within the multivariate model, age was the primary measure consistently associated with activity differences. Participants who wore accelerometers 12- and 24-month post-resection (n = 52) significantly increased weekly exercise minutes (214 min ± 208 min vs. 288 min ± 316 min, p = 0.04).

Conclusion: Age is the primary clinicodemographic determinant separating physical activity levels in colorectal cancer survivors, and increases in exercise from 12 to 24 months are likely due to consolidation of sporadic daily physical activity into bouts of exercise.

Implications for cancer survivors: Colorectal cancer survivors experience different volumes and changes in accelerometer-derived physical activity based on some (e.g., age) but not all (e.g., stage) clinicodemographic variables.

Keywords: Accelerometer; Aging; Objective measurement; Sex differences.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. C.M. Ulrich has as cancer director oversight over research funded by several pharmaceutical companies but has not received funding directly herself. The ColoCare study data are available from colocarestudy_admin@hci.utah.edu on reasonable request and as described on the ColoCare website ( https://uofuhealth.utah.edu/huntsman/labs/colocare-consortium/ ).

References

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Sedentary behavior and physical activity one year after colorectal cancer diagnosis: results from the ColoCare Study

Affiliations

Sedentary behavior and physical activity one year after colorectal cancer diagnosis: results from the ColoCare Study

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References