Associations between exercise and quality of life in bladder cancer survivors: a population-based study

Exercise has been shown to improve quality of life (QoL) in some cancer survivor groups, but it is unknown if the unique QoL issues faced by bladder cancer survivors are also amenable to an exercise intervention. This study provides the first data examining the association between exercise and QoL in bladder cancer survivors.

Bladder cancer survivors identified through a provincial cancer registry were mailed a survey that included the Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Bladder (FACT-Bl) scale, and the Fatigue Symptom Inventory.

Of the 525 bladder cancer survivors (51% response rate) that completed the survey, 22.3% were meeting public health exercise guidelines in the past month, 16.0% were insufficiently active (i.e., some exercise but less than the guidelines), and 61.7% were completely sedentary. ANOVA indicated a general linear association between meeting guidelines and QoL, with those meeting guidelines reporting more favorable scores than completely sedentary survivors on the FACT-Bl (mean difference, 7.6; 95% confidence interval, 3.6-11.7; P < 0.001), the FACT (P = 0.001), the trial outcome index (P < 0.001), functional well-being (P < 0.001), additional concerns (P = 0.001), sexual functioning (P < 0.001), erectile function (P < 0.001), body image (P < 0.001), and various fatigue indicators (P < 0.05). Adjusting for key medical and demographic factors slightly attenuated the magnitude of the associations but did not alter the substantive conclusions.

Exercise is positively associated with QoL in bladder cancer survivors, although few are meeting public health exercise guidelines. Studies testing the causal effects of exercise on QoL issues unique to this population are warranted.