The association of lifetime physical inactivity with bladder and renal cancer risk: A hospital-based case-control analysis

- We observed an association between lifetime inactivity and bladder cancer.
- We observed an association between lifetime inactivity and renal cancer.
- Associations between inactivity and cancer persisted among individuals with a BMI <30 kg/m2.
- Lifetime inactivity may be an independent risk factor for renal and bladder cancer.

ObjectivesRecreational physical inactivity has been gaining recognition as an independent epidemiological exposure of interest in relation to cancer endpoints due to evidence suggesting that it may associate with cancer independent of obesity. In the current analyses, we examined the associations of lifetime recreational physical inactivity with renal and bladder cancer risk.MethodsIn this hospital-based case-control study, we identified N = 160 renal cancer patients, N = 208 bladder cancer patients, and N = 766 age frequency-matched controls without cancer. Participants self-reporting never participating in any regular/weekly recreational physical activity throughout their lifetime were classified as physically inactive. Utilizing unconditional multivariable logistic regression analyses, we estimated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals to represent the associations between lifetime physical inactivity and renal and bladder cancer risk.ResultsIn multivariable logistic regression models, we observed significant positive associations between lifetime recreational physical inactivity and renal cancer and bladder cancer risk: odds ratio = 1.77 (95% CI: 1.10-2.85) and odds ratio = 1.73 (95% CI: 1.13-2.63), respectively. Similar associations also persisted among individuals who were not obese for both renal and bladder cancer: odds ratio = 1.75 (95% CI: 1.03-2.98) and odds ratio = 1.70 (95% CI: 1.08-2.69), respectively.ConclusionsIn this case-control study, we observed evidence of a positive association between renal and bladder cancer with lifetime recreational physical inactivity. These data add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that physical inactivity may be an important independent risk factor for cancer. However, additional studies using a larger sample and prospectively collected data are needed to substantiate the current findings.