Credit: Bill Branson
Childhood cancer survivors are no more likely than their cancer-free peers to adhere to healthy living guidelines, according to a study published in the Journal of Cancer Survivorship.
Survivors were less likely to be smokers and had a lower average body mass index (BMI).
But there were no significant differences between survivors and cancer-free control subjects with regard to overall diet, physical activity, or alcohol consumption.
Chloe Berdan, of Promedica in Toledo, Ohio, and her colleagues uncovered these results by examining data from the Chicago Healthy Living Study.
The team assessed adherence to American Cancer Society Guidelines on Nutrition and Physical Activity via interviews with 431 childhood cancer survivors and 361 control subjects who never had cancer. The survivors, ages 18 to 59, were all diagnosed with a malignant cancer before their 21st birthdays.
There were no significant differences in sex or race between survivors and controls. Survivors were younger than controls (28.4±7.8 vs 29.6± 8.3 years, P=0.04) and had less education (14.0±2.0 vs 14.4±2.0 years, P=0.01).
Overall, there was no significant difference between survivors and control subjects in adhering to the American Cancer Society guidelines.
Survivors and controls also had similar scores for several individual measures, including alcohol consumption, overall physical activity, overall diet, the servings of fruits/vegetables consumed, and the consumption of red/processed meat.
However, survivors were significantly less likely than controls to be smokers—11.4% vs 17.5% (P=0.02). Survivors had, on average, a BMI of about 1.2 kg/m² lower than controls (P=0.01). And survivors consumed significantly less fiber than controls—9.2±3.5 vs 9.7±3.8 kcal (P=0.05).
Only about 1 in 10 survivors (10.2%) met fiber recommendations, 17.7% ate 5 fruits or vegetables per day, and 46.2% met the red/processed meat recommendation of less than 18 oz per week. On average, survivors scored under 50% for the quality of their diets.
Survivors were better at meeting the goal of at least 5 hours of moderate activity per week (60.5%) than to sticking to any of the other guidelines.
About 36% of survivors were within a healthy BMI range, 2.9% were underweight, 28.9% were overweight, and 32.4% were obese.
The 0.7% of survivors who adhered fully to the guidelines tended to be women, non-smokers, and people with a good view of their own health.
“There is still much room for improvement in educating and encouraging survivors to follow healthier diets and lifestyles,” Berdan said. “Adopting such behavior during early adulthood may have a lasting impact on their quality of life and overall survival.”
