[Protective effects of physical activity in the occurrence of colon cancer]

The purpose of the study was to assess the role of occupational and leisure physical activity on the risk pattern of colon cancer considering the possible confounding effects of dietary habits. Case-control study has been carried out in 180 incident cases of colon cancer hospitalized in Chair of Surgery CMUJ in Kraków. The equal number of controls individually matched by gender and age were chosen amongst patients with no history of cancer from the university hospital. Food frequency questionnaire combined with quantity of foods eaten was used to assess the usual dietary patterns for 148 food items. The occupational physical activity of the interviewed subjects before the occurrence of the disease was assessed by self-rating. Leisure time activity was measured by the number of hours watching TV. The adjusted risk of colon cancer was reduced by half in those being active in leisure time (OR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.32-0.98). The effect of occupational physical activity had the same order of magnitude in terms of risk reduction (OR = 0.56; 95% CI: 0.28-1.10). The protective effect of healthy nutrition appeared to be independent from that attributed to physical effort.