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Gesundheit – gemeinsam. Kooperationstagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie (GMDS), Deutschen Gesellschaft für Sozialmedizin und Prävention (DGSMP), Deutschen Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie (DGEpi), Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Soziologie (DGMS) und der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Public Health (DGPH)

08.09. - 13.09.2024, Dresden

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Usual walking pace and risk of 28 cancers: observational and Mendelian randomization analyses

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  • Michael J. Stein - Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
  • Hansjörg Baurecht - Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
  • Patricia Bohmann - Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
  • Pietro Ferrari - Nutrition and Metabolism Branch, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO), Lyon, France
  • Béatrice Fervers - Department of Prevention Cancer Environment, Centre Léon Bérard, Lyon, France; INSERM UMR1296 Radiation: Defense, Health, Environment, Lyon, France
  • Emma Fontvieille - Nutrition and Metabolism Branch, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO), Lyon, France
  • Heinz Freisling - Nutrition and Metabolism Branch, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO), Lyon, France
  • Christine M. Friedenreich - Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research, Cancer Care Alberta, Alberta Health Services, Calgary, Canada; Departments of Oncology and Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
  • Marc J. Gunter - Nutrition and Metabolism Branch, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO), Lyon, Canada; Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Research Unit, School of Public Health, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom
  • Laia Peruchet-Noray - Nutrition and Metabolism Branch, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO), Lyon, France; Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
  • Anja M. Sedlmeier - Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; Center for Translational Oncology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany; Bavarian Cancer Research Center (BZKF), Regensburg, Germany
  • Andrea Weber - Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
  • Michael F. Leitzmann - Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
  • Julian Konzok - Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

Gesundheit – gemeinsam. Kooperationstagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie (GMDS), Deutschen Gesellschaft für Sozialmedizin und Prävention (DGSMP), Deutschen Gesellschaft für Epidemiologie (DGEpi), Deutschen Gesellschaft für Medizinische Soziologie (DGMS) und der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Public Health (DGPH). Dresden, 08.-13.09.2024. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2024. DocAbstr. 41

doi: 10.3205/24gmds735, urn:nbn:de:0183-24gmds7353

Published: September 6, 2024

© 2024 Stein et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

Text

Background: Usual walking pace represents a practical indicator of overall health. However, its role in cancer etiology remains unexplored. We investigated the relation between self-reported walking pace and cancer risk in observational and genetic analyses.

Methods: Using baseline UK Biobank data collected in 2006-2010 among 349,348 participants, we used multivariable Cox proportional hazard models to estimate the association between walking pace (slow, steady average, brisk) and the risk of 28 cancer types, adjusting for overall physical activity and walking volume. We also conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis in the UK Biobank to support observational findings by investigating potential causality between walking pace and cancer risk.

Results: After a median follow-up of 10.9 years, 33,330 cancers (9.5% of participants) were diagnosed. Brisk compared with slow walking pace was inversely associated with the risks of six cancers, including anal cancer (hazard ratio 0.31; 95% confidence interval: 0.16-0.61), hepatocellular carcinoma (0.39; 0.24-0.65), thyroid cancer (0.52; 0.32-0.85), lung cancer (0.58; 0.50-0.67), ovarian cancer (0.66; 0.46-0.95), and lip, oral cavity, pharynx cancers combined (0.70; 0.52-0.96). MR analysis based on 450,967 participants further supported these findings. Genetically predicted walking pace was inversely associated with cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx combined (0.17; 0.04-0.76; p=0.021), and cancers of the stomach (0.25; 0.07-0.95; p=0.041), colorectum (0.52; 0.29-0.92; p=0.025) and lung (0.56; 0.32-0.98; p=0.043)

Conclusion: Self-reported walking pace was inversely associated with the risk of six cancer sites, after controlling for overall physical activity and walking volume, supported by MR analyses for four sites. Adopting a brisk walking pace could be an effective public health intervention to reduce the risk of specific cancers, as indicated by both observational and genetic analyses.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

The authors declare that a positive ethics committee vote has been obtained.