Physical Activity And Prostate Cancer In The South And East Of China

The relation between physical activity and prostate cancer has been investigated in numerous studies in the USA and Europe, but an inverse association has inconsistently been suggested. We investigated this association in China, where habitual physical activity may be different and prostate cancer incidence is much lower than in Western countries.A hospital-based case-control study was conducted in four hospitals in the East and South of China including 268 incident prostate cancer cases and 353 frequency-matched controls. Physical activity was measured by interviewer-administered questionnaires including questions on type, frequency, and duration of activity, and subsequently classified as low, medium or high physical activity according to metabolic equivalent (MET) hours per week. Prostate cancer risk was estimated by random effects logistic regression.Although total physical activity was not associated with prostate cancer risk in overall analyses, there was an inverse association among men>67.7 years of age (OR=0.46; 95%CI=0.22-0.93). In addition, we observed inverse associations among individuals with increased moderate physical activity (ORmedium vs low=0.39 (0.23-0.66); ORhigh vs low=0.54 (0.32-0.93), but not for vigorous physical activity or walking.This study suggests that an inverse association between physical activity and prostate cancer risk may be more pronounced among older Chinese men, and that moderate physical activity, rather than vigorous physical activity or walking, contributes to preventing prostate cancer. However, replication in (larger population-based) studies among Chinese men with similarly detailed measurements of physical activity is recommendable.