Survivors of colorectal cancer who exercised for at least 1 hour per week and had a low body fat mass were found to have lower rates of colorectal polyp recurrence, according to a study published in Cancer Prevention Research.

Obesity is known to increase the risk of tumor growth, including colorectal cancer and colorectal polyps. Conversely, the results of previous studies suggest that exercise may decrease this risk.

For this study, 300 patients who had survived colorectal cancer were randomly selected and followed for 5 years or more. All patients had undergone curative resection, and underwent a baseline colonoscopy prior to surgery or within 6 months after resection.

Study patients reported their various levels of physical activity by completing the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ), and were stratified into an active group which reported exercising for more than 1 hour/week and a sedentary group who reported less than 1 hour/week. Patients had their body composition analyzed and underwent surveillance colonoscopy.

The active group had a significantly lower rate of advanced adenoma recurrence compared with the sedentary group (6.4% vs 14.4%; P =.023), and this reduction was dose dependent on exercise (P_trend =.019). There was, however, no significant difference for overall adenoma recurrence (33.5% vs 29.9%, P =.533).

Colorectal Cancer Recurrence Lower in Survivors Who Exercise, Have Low Body Fat Mass

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